The Greatest Battle
by no1nosme
Summary: Shroudsville, the town hidden in the forest. The Seville pack, a group of wolves on the run from vampires. A girl, apparently the key to unlocking everything. The ultimate battle that truly never ended must be fought. Alvin is their greatest weapon, and Brittany is his greatest weakness. Alvin must fight to defend all that he loves, unless he wants everything to be ripped away.
1. Prologue

**Hello, everyone! I know, I know. I haven't posted anything at all in almost a year, I'm extremely lazy when it comes to writing and even lazier when it comes to updating, and I need to stop making stories and never finishing them. I can assure you that I am working my best to write and update when it is possible. School's been rough, and my life has been very busy. **

**Let me just fill you in quickly on upcoming stories and such:**

_**The Lightness and Darkness**_** – I am working on the last chapter. I am a few thousand words in, and it's coming along well so far. I am trying to finish this story so that I may work on other things. I may do a rewrite because I originally had many more ideas and lots more action-wise planned but being my young, not-very-good-writer self, I made it horrible. Well, I at least didn't like it. I don't know how all of you feel about it. Again, a rewrite is a ****possibility****. I don't know if I want to go through it again or not.**

_**Mystery of the Keys**_** – This story is also reaching its end. I have not begun working on it as of now, but this next chapter is definitely the last.**

_**The Haunted**_** – Yes, this story is still ongoing. I have not begun to write the next chapter yet, but I will try to soon. I don't have much inspiration for this or **_**The Lightness and Darkness**_** right now. That's the reason why I am writing this first chapter instead.**

_**Gone**_** – I am halfway done with the second chapter. I don't like how the very beginning of this chapter is, so I will probably be rewriting that. I have lots of things planned for this story, so don't be too worried about this one going bad.**

**This is a story I had been thinking about for a while, but after reading **_**The Ultimate A**_** by MetalMunk, I was finally given enough ideas to be able to write it. No, I am not copying MetalMunk's story. I just received inspiration from it, and I am very thankful to MetalMunk for having such a great story. (Really, it's one of my favorite stories right now. You should check it out and see if you'd enjoy it.)**

**Also, lots of OCs will be in this story. If you want to see who they are, I just posted them. They are my and Jaded1971's OCs. I will probably be using these OCs very much in upcoming stories because now I all I can imagine when thinking of the Miller and Seville families are these characters.**

**Now, please, if you will...READ, REVIEW, AND ENJOY! :)**

* * *

_Many hundreds of years ago, vampires and wolves fought for the planet. The Earth was in great chaos. Fear gripped the hearts of the humans as their homes, lands, animals, families, and friends were destroyed because of these horrible creatures. _

_Vampires and wolves rapidly changed the almost every human into one of their kind and forced them onto their sides. To humans, it didn't matter anymore if either side won or lost. If they just stopped, the humans would be happy. But they didn't._

_Humans were forced to join the war as well. If they were to continue to be a ruling force on the planet, they'd have to end the war. One way or another, they had to._

_After many experiments, humans discovered simple things such as vampires dying if you cut off their heads or if you pierced a piece of wood through their hearts. They also found out that wolves died when they had too many injuries without their quick healing taking place or if silver was stabbed into them. Later on, the humans invented bullets, and then they made silver bullets to kill the wolves. Then they discovered the wolves biggest cause of death._

_By killing their mates._

_Their mates were their greatest weakness. Killing the mate killed the wolves even faster than shooting them with a silver bullet did._

_So, the humans did the only thing they could do to end the war. They killed the mates of the wolves. The wolves were easier to kill than the vampires were._

_The side of the wolves began losing rapidly after humans discovered this secret. The humans didn't reveal this secret of killing the wolves' mates to kill them so that they would have so leverage over both sides. The wolves would need to make a deal with them to stop them or the vampires needed to make a deal with them to gain this powerful secret. They needed this secret to end the war. The secret did end the war.  
_

_One day, the leaders of all the wolf kingdoms and various smaller packs gathered together at the main capital. There were many different kingdoms and packs of wolves. At the beginning of the war, they had decided to choose a single leader to band together and destroy the vampires. This was the day they had called the leaders of the humans to join them. The humans had also banded together, disregarding past differences to end this war.  
_

_The wolves were in a large underground room. There were two wooden doors on either side of the circular room. A large, round, wooden table stood in the center of the room, different plans and maps scattered about on it. A dart board hung on the north wall; on the dart board was a roughly drawn photo of a vampire, darts sticking out of the hissing vampire's face in various of different places and the eyes had been scratched out of the vampire's sockets. A group of wolves stood on one half of the large room. Different pack leaders spoke loudly with one another. Each one looked a bit roughed up. A few of them were in their wolf forms, walking about the room. Some of the pack leaders had their ears cut and various injuries all over their bodies, indicating they had just come from a recent battle. The majority of the leaders were in a half-wolf, half-human stage. Tails poked out from under their shirt or out of the back of their pants. Fur grew from the sides of their faces. Black, dog-like noses replaced the normal human noses. Their eyes glowed different colors. They had claws instead of normal length fingernails. Wolves usually stayed in this half-half state, especially when they had to speak with humans. The majority of them had a colorful mark on some part of their body. Each one was different. Only one pair of wolves had the same marks, and they sat close to one another, both seeming quite content with the comfortable silence engulfing them. These special marks were their mate marks.  
_

_ They were discussing different matters that differed in importance, such as ending the war, hunting in certain places, but most of all, they spoke of how to kill these pesky humans that were about to enter the room. The queen had ordered that they not kill the humans, but she was only their leader for the war. As soon as this war was over, they'd all go back to normal, and she wouldn't rule them any longer. Then they would kill the humans. And they would quite possibly kill her.  
_

_In truth, she was an okay leader. She was very strong on the battlefield, but her military tactics were so horrible that it was laughable. Many of their brothers and sisters had fallen because of her. She had won them a few battles by being on the battlefield and killing the vampires herself, so that was why they kept her at the position she was at currently. If they went against her, she could become angry and join the vampires like a few of the wolves had already done. And if she joined them, they didn't know what would happen to the wolf kind._

_The doors opened, and all heads turned towards the doors. The humans began to walk into the room. Each one was covered in layers of armor and carried many different weapons. The humans stared at the humans with pure hatred and disgust in their eyes. The only noises made by either side was the soft shuffling of feet on the dirt floor, armor creaking, and the growls of wolves._

_The large, wooden door slowly closed behind them. A large smashing noise was heard in the underground room from the doors shutting. One of the humans sneered at the wolves. He had dark brown hair, a lighter brown beard that hung off his face and reached the bottom of his neck, and deep, dark, unforgiving eyes. He growled out in a gruff voice, "Where's your queen, pups?"_

_One of the larger male wolves opened his mouth to speak, a murderous look gracing his features, but he was interrupted was a strong, higher-pitched voice. "She'll be here in a moment."_

_All heads turned to the source of the voice. A teenage girl stood there. Golden armor protected her body. She walked forward, each movement was extremely graceful. Her dark auburn hair was tied into a ponytail, and it swayed elegantly behind her. She wasn't in her wolf form or even the half-half form, but she was definitely a wolf by how comfortable the other wolves were with her interrupting one of them. If she had interrupted one of them and if she was a human, she would've already been dead. Her deep blue eyes scanned the humans standing before her. Strangely, she wasn't glaring at them like the rest of the wolves. She smiled warmly at them as if they were her family._

_"Well, I mean, she can come a bit quicker, but she's in the middle of something. It'll only be a moment longer, if that's alright with you, Humans."_

_The humans stared at her, wide-eyed and curious. Why was this wolf acting so kind towards them? Why did the wolves even have a teenage girl here? Did she lead a pack or wolf kingdom? Did she fight in the war?  
_

_The larger wolf-man that was about to speak earlier gently grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards him. He whispered for a moment into her ear, worry obvious in his eyes. He was probably warning her to stay out of this._

_Another one of the humans spoke, an almost smug look on his face, "Is that your mate?" He held up his weapon slightly in a threatening, but teasing way._

_The larger wolf-man shifted his gaze to the smug human. He glared at the human, hatred spilling from his eyes, "That shouldn't matter to you, should it?"_

_"Well, if you all are planning to kill us, then we'll kill her first. Then we'll kill the rest of your mates."_

_Anger flooded the eyes of the wolves. A few turned into their wolf forms. The wolves growled and snarled loudly at the humans. A few of the humans tried not to laugh while the rest held up their weapons in defense.  
_

_The teenage girl stepped forward. She stood tall, almost proudly, and said, "Fine. Kill me. It won't do you any good. I don't have a mate."_

_The humans looked shocked at this. A beautiful girl like this had to have a mate._

_Her eyes traveled across the people before her, she said, "You've forced the rest of us wolves not to take a mate these past few mating seasons. Don't be so surprised about that."_

_A few of the humans looked quite guilty, while the others smirked a bit. _

_The doors behind the wolves opened with a load creak, a woman who looked just a bit older than the girl in golden armor entered the room. Her dark brown hair hung down her back. She was obviously the queen of the wolves with the way she held herself and the way her stride was so confident. Her violet-colored eyes narrowed at the sight before her. She said loudly, staring at the back of the golden-clad girl's head, "Enough, you. Do not speak out of place. We have come here on peaceful terms."_

_The golden-armored girl's shoulders tensed a bit. She didn't even turn to look at the woman. Her head fell a bit before she nodded her head slightly._

_The violet-eyed girl then said, "Now, go to where you belong."_

_The elegant wolf turned and begun walking to the back of the group of wolves, her head bowed down. As she passed the queen, she glared slightly at the only part she was willing to look at. The queen's feet._

_The queen turned back to the humans. She took long strides towards the round, wooden table in the center of the room. She placed both of her hands flat against the table, and she leaned forward, staring at the humans with those purple eyes. She said, "We don't have much time, so let's get right to it. We want an alliance with you."  
_

_The humans murmured quietly amongst themselves. They had been expecting this. The bearded one who spoke earlier said,"What's in it for us humans?"_

_"We will stop hunting your kind, protect you against the vampires, and help you regain your lands, if and only if you stop killing our mates."_

_The humans stared at her. That's was a big price for them, the wolves, to pay. The wolves were offering so much and the humans were to give so little in return. It was a very good deal._

_A human, this time a female with blonde hair up that was in a tight bun, spoke, "What is even so important about mates? They're just other people. It shouldn't be so easy to kill you all by killing just random people."_

_The large man who seemed to be keeping the golden-clad girl behind him glared at the woman, "Our mates are our everything. They are the reason we all continue to exist. Killing off a mate is like one of us tearing out your heart and saying, 'Here. Try to keep living.' Because I assure you that you would die in an instant if your heart were torn out."_

_The humans were quiet for a moment. The bearded one spoke slowly and softly, "Queen, we accept the alliance."_

_A few of the wolves almost grinned. Violet smiled a bit. She heard a small noise at the door behind her with her enhanced hearing; if she were a human, she would have never been able to hear that noise behind the thick doors. Her smile grew. She knew it was no enemy, but it was the only reason she was making this deal with the humans._

_A small boy, only a few years old, tried with all his might to push the doors open. He groaned and whined as they didn't move at all. His golden eyes stared up at the door, frustrated. Suddenly, a pair of arms were wrapped about him, scooping him up and throwing him up into the air. The little one squealed and laughed as he landed into the arms again. The little boy looked up at his father, smiling._

_The older man, well, he still looked like a teenager, smiled happily down at his son. The boy looked just like his father. He laughed a bit, "Alvin, what are you doing? They're having a meeting. You can't go in."_

_Alvin whined, throwing his head back in annoyance. His russet hair becoming quite messy as Alvin shook his head about, "I want to go in, though! Mommy said there would be humans in there!"_

_Alex, Alvin's father, laughed, shook his head, and threw the boy onto his own shoulder, the boy giggling as Alex started walking away with him. "Remember, Alvin, humans are bad and dangerous. They hurt wolves, just like the vampires do."_

_Alvin looked a bit confused. He peered at his father, "What do the humans do?"_

_"They kill our mates. You won't understand for quite a while why that is so bad, but you'll know later on, I promise."_

_Alvin tilted his head in confusion and looked back to the door, and he muttered a quiet, "Oh..."_

_A smirk crawled onto Alex's face, and he said, "And you want to know how you'll know why it's bad to kill a wolf's mate?"  
_

_Alvin looked excited and he nodded his head vigorously. "Yeah! Yeah! I wanna know!"_

_"Well..." Alex smirked, leaned in close to Alvin's ear, and spoke quietly, "You're going to be in love with a girl."_

_Alvin's face drained of color, and he looked like he would lose his dinner right then and there as Alex laughed loudly and carried him through the underground hallways._

_The wolves and humans formed their alliance. They fought against the vampires together, and they brought the vampires to their knees. And, finally both sides agreed to end the war, but vampires being their evil and conniving selves had to get one last hit, one last blow that would say that they won. So while they signed their peace treaty, Athanasia, one of the strongest vampires that was living at the time, killed the queen of the wolves. The vampires then retreated and have not been seen since..._

_Until now. _

* * *

**There you have it, everyone! This the backstory to a very wild tale! I will probably be working on the next chapter of this tomorrow because I'm sick and Christmas is only a few days away, so I need to put my crazy Christmas energy into something else. **

**Guess what?**

**I have a secret.**

***leans in close***

***breathes in heavily***

***whispers loudly***

**BRITTANY'S IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

***freaks out***

**Anyway! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this. Please R&amp;R!**

**Oh, and please don't forget to have a Very Merry Christmas! :)**

**(I am probably about to go write a Christmas oneshot of Alvin x Brittany because I'm in a writing kind of mood, so I might see you in a few hours!)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, guys. I'll just get right to the story for now.**

* * *

Forests typically are buzzing with noise, pulsing with movement, but the forest Alvin and his pack were traveling through was mute.

From the back of the group, Steven whispered, "Alvin, I don't think this is the safest way to go."

Alvin, scanning the area ahead with abnormally golden eyes, said, "It doesn't have vampires, and that's why it's great to go through."

Allison walked a few paces behind Alvin. Being his little sister, she shared many of his features. Also looking around the area with golden eyes, she mumbled to Alvin, "But it's completely quiet. That's weird."

"I've been leading this pack for how long now? I know what I'm doing. We haven't had to deal with vampires in forever. Besides, if we turn around now, it'll take another two weeks to walk back the way we came." Alvin was becoming very irritated by their questions. Alvin's been the alpha for so long now. And now that he thought of it, he was curious as to how long he had been the leader of the Seville Pack.

He didn't pay much attention to everything in front of him, which occasionally caused him to trip as he walked, but he was more focused on trying to figure out how long he had been the alpha. The last alpha was his dad. That was something he remembered for sure.

Alvin glanced backwards, looking towards the back of the group. His father trudged behind Steven, staring down at the ground silently. Frowning, Alvin looked forward again.

He remembered now. He had been the pack leader ever since his mother was killed and his dad had come crumbling down.

Alvin then thought of Allison, who was still very young. She technically didn't even know their mom and hadn't experienced the downfall of their dad. When his mate died, Alvin's father did hide in the dark with Allison, holding her close and refusing to let people come near them, but of course Allison didn't remember that. She was only a baby then.

He thought a little more about her as she ran forward to keep pace with him. Compared to him in height, she only came up a little taller than his hips. She hasn't aged in a very long time. Her aging process was taking a lot longer than his own or any of their siblings.

Wolves don't have a set aging process. Frances, who was Alvin's older brother and was walking somewhere behind him, didn't even stay a child for more than a year or two. But now Allison had probably remained looking like a seven to nine year old in her human state for hundreds of years. She didn't age quickly, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing because she enjoyed being a child, but at some point she did need to grow.

_Crack._

They all froze. Alvin glanced back at the pack, putting a finger to his lips. A few members nodded their heads. Alvin lifted his ear into the air, trying to hear for another noise.

That noise could have come from anything. A deer, a bird, a frog, a vampire. To be fair, they all did want it to be some kind of animal. They hadn't eaten meat in probably more than two weeks now, and plants hadn't been filling them up as well as meat could.

Alvin made a small gesture with his hand to Allison. She had the best nose of all of them. Alvin continued to listen as she sniffed.

Allison took a few silent steps forward. Her eyes were shut, so that way she focus more clearly on the smell.

Eyes shooting open, she leapt forward, turning into a wolf midair. She ran through the trees. Alvin and the pack followed after her, shifting into their wolf forms as they moved to follow her.

A being squatted high above them in a tree, staring at them as they ran after a false smell. Tilting their head, they understood that they needed to go warn the others. Their cold green eyes continued to watch the pack of wolves as the being silently leapt branch from branch in a similar direction as the pack.

* * *

Allison slumped against a tree, once again a human, pouting. She looked up at the irritated faces that stood above her. She mumbled a quiet, "I'm sorry."

Alvin pulled a leaf out of his hair as he looked around. He frowned, "This isn't right…"

Brian, Alvin's eldest brother and the one who looked the most furious, yelled, "You're right, Alvin! It isn't right that Allison lost probably the only meat in this forest!"

Alvin quickly glared at Brian, staring deep into his eyes. Brian took the challenge, staring back into Alvin's. After a few seconds, though, Brian turned his gaze downward.

Alvin walked forward and helped Allison up. He kneeled down to her height and sighed. He tiredly questioned, "What happened?"

Allison looked like she could probably cry at any moment. She didn't lock her gaze with Alvin's as a sign of inferiority while telling him, "The smell was there for a while, and then it was just gone. There is no smell anymore."

Alvin nodded and stood to his full height. He looked around for something. Anything at all. Allison's nose never failed. If anything, he could only recall one time when it failed. It was when she thought she smelled a mouse, but instead it was a herd of deer. No one minded the mistake that time because they all got to eat their fill. So, Allison being able to smell something and then the smell suddenly disappearing was too strange to him.

Alvin looked upwards into the tree limbs. Looking confused, he moved to get a better look. It was a strange thing. There was a single branch that had been cracked - moved.

He waved his hand at everyone and they became silent. He whispered, "Someone's been following us."

This almost caused Francis to burst into laughter. He was extremely egotistical, something that he shared with Alvin at times, and he said, "That's ridiculous. We would've known if someone was trailing us."

Simon, being far more intelligent than the rest of them, responded with, "It is possible that they weren't really trailing us. From the way that crack is, it looks like they may have been coming from the opposite direction. Whoever or whatever it was probably didn't intend to come upon a group of wolves. And when they did see us, they probably ran off."

Narrowing his eyes towards the trees, he mumbled, "Thought, it is strange that they didn't leave any other mark behind."

The others stared curiously into the trees with Simon.

Alvin let his gaze fall from the trees. He looked in the direction that Simon was indicating where whatever had been here had traveled from. He took a few steps forward and said, "Come on. We're going in this direction."

The puzzled pack stared at him. He looked back at them and, giving them a smirk, said, "There's probably meat this way."

And then everyone was much more eager to go that way.

* * *

"Welcome to…Shroudsville."

That was what the sign read.

After traveling for a few more hours, they finally came upon what seemed to be a man-made trail. They began to see some human buildings in the distance obscured between trees just before a dirty and faded sign that was tilted towards the ground appeared near the trail.

"Shroudsville, huh?" Steven questioned, now walking towards the front with Alvin.

"Sounds like a human village," Alvin commented.

Brian nodded, "Looks like one too."

They slowed their pace, quickly going on alert as they entered the unknown area.

Shroudsville looked long since abandoned with its multiple broken windows, knocked over signs, random holes, and items carelessly left behind on the ground. The town was incredibly small too; not a very large amount of buildings were present in the area.

The Seville pack made its way into the center of the town, taking in their surroundings. Allison let out a quiet gasp before whispering, "I think I just saw a curtain move."

Steven nodded, "I don't think this town is as abandoned as we think it is."

In the seemingly silent and abandoned town, a door creaked open. Their gazes shot towards the noise.

A man walked out of a house at the far end of the street they stood on. He walked towards them with an even pace and long strides. His friendly green eyes offered the group a silent welcome. Alvin took notice of the man's buff physique, which was not very well hidden underneath his shirt. Alvin rolled his shoulders back and held his head higher, making himself seem bigger.

The man stopped walking when he was right in front of them. He cheerfully stated, "Welcome to Shroudsville."

Alvin stared into the man's eyes. The man stood there, staring back at him. The man looked puzzled, "Something the matter?"

Alvin remained silent.

Alvin heard a small noise from Allison. It was almost a pout, and it got his attention. He quickly turned to face her. Allison stood there facing him. Alvin looked confused until he saw what was behind her.

A group of twenty or so able looking men stood behind Alvin's pack. They wore similar welcoming smiles like the man he had been speaking to, but what caught Alvin's attention was their stance. They stood with their legs apart, leaning forward slightly. Almost like they were ready to pounce. Alvin looked past the men. Near the door of one building, six strong-looking women stood, sharing the same form as the men. Both groups shared friendly smiles and dangerous stances.

Alvin turned his attention back towards the man, eyes narrowed sharply. The man simply smiled and said, "What's your business here?

Alvin opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Steven throwing his arm around Alvin's shoulders. Steven replied to the man, "We were on a family and friends kind of camping trip. We saw this place on the map and thought it might be a great place to stop and rest on the way home."

Callisto smiled, "Well, you made the right choice."

Steven smiled back at him and said, "We're the Sevilles. I'm Steven and this is Alvin."

Alvin nodded at the man.

"And your name is?" Steven asked.

"Oh, forgive my rudeness. I'm Callisto, brother of the mayor."

They nodded, observing Callisto. Callisto turned away from them and began walking towards one of the larger buildings in Shroudsville. He said, "Follow me."

The Seville pack watched Alvin, waiting for his order. Alvin slowly began to follow Callisto, much to their surprise. They mimicked his actions.

Callisto led them inside the building. He knocked on the front desk, which caused a shorter woman to slowly stand up from behind it.

The woman avoided eye contact with all of them. Instead, she focused on the button at the bottom of her shirt. She played with it as she almost inaudibly asked, "W-What can I do for you?"

Alvin watched her closely. The way she came up from behind the counter and how she was playing with the oh-so-interesting button made him wonder if she had been hiding before they walked in.

Callisto smiled at her, "We need some rooms for our friends here."

The woman quickly wrote a few things down before grabbing some keys from the wall of cubbies behind her.

Gulping, she took the quickest glance up at them and said, "Follow me, please."

She led them through the door next to the front desk. It led into the hall. Halfway through the hall, she took an abrupt right turn and went up the stairs around the corner. Once upstairs, she thrust the keys into Alvin's arms and squeaked, "The whole floor is yours. You've got a big group of people."

Alvin nodded and distributed the keys to everyone.

Callisto once again smiled at everyone, pulling the woman away from them roughly. He stated, "I'm sorry, but today is everyone's day off, so you'll probably have to wait until tomorrow to actually eat at a restaurant or something."

Most of the people behind Alvin sounded off a loud groan at Callisto's statement.

The woman seemed like the most incredible idea just poofed into her head because she chirped, "Oh, if you're hungry, you could probably just ask B-"

Callisto slammed his first down on her head, causing the girl to let out a scream and stop talking. The pack stared at him in utter shock.

Callisto merely chuckled, "You can eat tomorrow. Plenty of places will be open in the morning. Besides, it's almost lights out time for the town. Goodnight. I hope you all get a great night's sleep." He grabbed the woman, who was still rubbing her head, and dragged her down the stairs with him.

The Seville pack remained silent, staring at them.

"They're weird. This town is weird," Allison commented.

Alvin nodded his head. He took a few quiet steps down the stairs and listened to see if Callisto and the woman were really gone. Instead of silence, he heard quiet yelling.

"You do realize that if he knew you told them about her, you'd pretty much be committing suicide, right!? People like them are the exact reason why he keeps everything about her quiet!" Alvin heard a slap sound off.

A shaky voice responded, "You stopped me in time… and they probably can hear you right now… this whole situation is bad… you can't blame me…"

A sigh was the response the shaky voice received. After that, their voices were too quiet for Alvin to decipher.

He tiptoed up the stairs. Steven stepped forward, "Well?"

Alvin didn't respond for a minute. He waited until he heard the door to the hotel open and close behind someone, probably Callisto.

Alvin faced his packmates and said, "Everyone, be careful. These people are hiding lots of things, and I doubt they're going to give up their secrets very easily. If you go out, make sure you take one or two others with you. Avoid conversation with the townspeople if possible. I'll decide what we need to do tomorrow, okay? For now just get some rest."

The members of the Seville pack nodded and went into their rooms to sleep.

* * *

Callisto ran a hand through his dark reddish-brown hair in an exhausted fashion. His once welcoming green eyes looked very tired, and he walked sluggishly through the town.

Someone called out from one of the houses, "Hey, Callisto, what's the diagnosis?"

Callisto waved him off, "I gotta talk to Brandon before I tell anyone else anything."

The person nodded before disappearing back into their house.

Callisto took in the view of one of the few well taken care of homes in Shroudsville. It wasn't as damaged as the other homes, but by human standards, it was definitely alright. Though, it still was in slight ruin like the other structures in Shroudsville..

He quickly walked up the stairs and into the house. He locked the door behind himself. Callisto made his way through the house before he came upon a closed door. Turning the knob slowly, he entered the room. It was almost completely dark except for two candles that sat at the end of a desk near the window.

The man behind the desk looked up at Callisto. He icy blue eyes stared with such coldness into Callisto's that a shiver crawled down Callisto's back.

The man raised an eyebrow, "Well?"

Callisto put his arms behind his back, before saying, "They're dangerous. Most of them are descendants of Violet, and if not of Violet's bloodline, they are another notable wolves' descendent. They also have an Alpha wolf. Another younger pack member may prove to be an Alpha as well."

The man stood quickly, "Two Alphas?"

Callisto nodded, "Not exactly. You didn't let me finish. They've got another Alpha. As the pack leader and alpha of their pack. That one is incredibly strong. It's most obvious that he's an Alpha."

"Three Alphas… in a pack that small…" the man quietly said to himself.

This was the big one. He was for sure not going to let this one slide. Callisto sighed, "Brandon, the woman at the hotel almost mentioned her to them."

Brandon stood up, the desk falling over from the sheer force of his standing, and bellowed, "_What!?_"

Almost as if on cue, they heard a small thump far away from one door.

Both of them momentarily turned their attention towards the direction of the noise.

Brandon was the first to look away. He growled out, "Bring the hotel woman to me after this."

Callisto nodded his head, looking back at Brandon.

Brandon peeked through the blinds. He said to Callisto, "Get them out of here as quickly as possible. Warn everyone to be extra careful. They're dangerous. A threat to everything we've built."

* * *

**I know. It's almost been an entire year since I actually started this story. I'm sorry.**

**I'm a very busy and lazy person, but now since I'm on break, I have a little more time to write. At the moment, it's my goal to post a chapter for this story at least once a day during break, but since I'm really in a writing mood, I may be updating more than once a day.**

**Also, as much as I do love my other stories and want to continue them, I'm mainly going to focus on this one during break. I have the next few ideas for each of my stories, but no actual motivation to write them. So for now, I'll only be working on this story.**

**Don't worry. I'll probably get to the others eventually.**

**I'm trying to better my writing, which I see here needs a lot of improvement. Being my lazy self, though, I only read through this chapter once to correct a few mistakes. Please comment and tell me anything that needs fixing. This is my main goal for any of my stories on this website now; I've mostly gotten out of the fandom, but this is one of the few places where I can write about something I like and get proper reviews. So, please, review and tell me what needs improvement, what you liked, disliked, anything really.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Cross your fingers and hope I update tomorrow!**

**PS: Sorry for lying about Brittany being in this chapter. She's for sure in the next one. Maybe. I may need to push her arrival back a bit.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so I haven't updated everyday this week like I said I would, but hey, this is a much faster update than I usually do. I was busy the day after the second chapter was posted, and I was working on this chapter yesterday. I finally finished it today, and I made sure to proofread a little better this time. **

**I hope you enjoy!  
**

**Also, I always forget to put the disclaimer. I don't own Alvin and the Chipmunks. I don't remember who does, but all I know is that they aren't mine. The plot is mine, and any similarities to other stories or people or events or whatever is probably coincidental. **

* * *

Upon waking, the Seville pack gathered in the hallway of the second floor in the hotel they were currently sojourning in. Every person who exited their room waited for the rest of the pack members to awaken before they moved on with their day. This waiting process was taking a long time, however, due to the still sleeping alpha.

"Wake up, princess!" Steven shouted as he banged on the door.

No response.

Steven pounded on the door harder, "Alvin, get a move on! We're waiting!"

Allison stepped forward, "Let me try."

Steven moved back to give her some more space. Stepping close to the door, she hummed, "Alvin, the diner serves meat."

Nothing happened for a moment. They all stared at the door, waiting for something to change.

Allison pouted. She swiftly opened the door, "Alvin."

She was met with an empty bed and an open window. Rushing towards the window, she looked out over the town only to see Alvin's back as he sprinted towards the diner.

Allison couldn't help it. She began to laugh. Everyone looked at her puzzled. Shaking her head, she gestured for them to ignore it and to leave for the diner.

The remaining members of the Seville pack made their way downstairs. A tall, pale man stood behind the front desk as they passed by.

* * *

The Sevilles scarfed down more than their fill of meat. They continued ordering more and more. The wolves, being deprived of meat for weeks now, enjoyed every tiny sliver of meat that they could get.

The people in the diner watched the Seville pack devour nearly everything on the menu. The faces of the townspeople were twisted with various emotions that the Sevilles didn't care enough about to pay attention to. A few people whispered to one another while eyeing the voracious group of travelers.

The waiter walked over. He stared at the feasting group of people with pure disgust written across his face. He stood next to Alvin and waited patiently for Alvin to take notice of his presence.

Alvin felt the daggers being shot at him and slowly let his gaze rise up towards the waiter's. Alvin managed to read the name "_Andrew"_ off of the waiter's name tag just before reaching his eyes.

"What?" questioned Alvin.

"You and your friends are scaring away customers."

"And?"

"And," shot back Andrew, "you guys have almost entirely cleaned out our meat reserves."

Before Alvin could respond, Simon cut in, saying, "What do you mean by 'meat reserves,' if you don't mind my asking?"

Andrew turned his frustration towards Simon and said, "What's it to you, Window Face?"

Alvin almost shot up into a stand, but Simon held him down before he could get up. Simon's gaze remained locked on Andrew's, even as he struggled to hold Alvin down. "I'm just curious. The area surrounding town doesn't seem to even have animals. How do you guys stock up on meat? We'd like to know, so on the way home, we will not be deprived of our favorite food."

Andrew, who had begun chewing on the end of his pen, examined him closely. All eyes seemed to be on him. Andrew rolled his eyes and said, "We do the same thing as any other place that doesn't have animals just roaming around does."

Simon pressed on, "Which would be…?"

Andrew glared deep into Simon's eyes, "We have a hunting group that goes out into the deeper woods to hunt. Anything else you wanna stick your nose in?"

Simon smiled, as if Andrew had just proven a point to him, and said, "Oh, no. I'm fine." Simon returned to eating, looking very pleasant.

Andrew eyed Simon. He looked back at Alvin, "Are you guys almost done here?"

Alvin grasped his fork tightly and said, "We'll be gone in a minute."

Andrew didn't respond. He stared a moment longer at the strange group before turning on his heel and walking through the doors that Alvin assumed led into the kitchen.

Alvin quickly stood to his feet. He dropped the utensils that had been used to feed him with a loud _clang_ and began walking away from the group. "C'mon," he said. "We're getting out of here."

Once he and his pack removed themselves from the diner, they moved to an area behind a building to keep away from townspeople. The group gathered around Alvin as he began discussing what they were each to do.

"Everyone, listen up. I want to know what's going on here. Get into groups, like how I said last night, and start asking around, visiting shops, talking to townspeople. Do what you have to do to figure out what's going on in this town without the people living here knowing what you're doing."

They all nodded in response to Alvin's command. They began dividing themselves up into smaller groups of two or three before heading out. Alvin watched them all, making sure they were doing what they were supposed to do.

Steven made his way over to Alvin. Leaning against the building they were meeting behind, Steven asked, "What are we going to do once we figure out what's going on with this town?"

Alvin shrugged, "I don't know. I'll probably decide based on what we find. I'll let you guys know when I've decided what's going to happen."

Steven nodded in understanding and began walking away. Passing by a patiently waiting Allison, he grabbed her tiny hand and pulled her along. They walked out from behind the building, leaving only Alvin to remain there.

A small creak from above him rung about in Alvin's ears. Looking worried, he moved away from the building to get a better look at the roof. A bird sat upon the roof, shifting its feet every few moments and turning its head often. He laughed softly and made his way back onto the main road.

Alvin traversed through the town of Shroudsville on his own; he didn't mind not being with someone else from his group. Though Alvin cared deeply for his pack, it often became irritating having to lead that many people. The members of the pack were looser and more disobedient than most packs were, so Alvin was actually surprised that they had been obeying his orders so much recently. The Seville pack usually lacked respect for him and his leadership, which he assumed was because he began leading the pack as a child and no one wanted a child to lead them. It drove him crazy the way they treated him sometimes.

But, all in all, the members of the Seville pack were amazing. He was happy to lead them. As frustrating as they were, they were his family. Not just family because of blood relations, quite a few members he was related through blood to, they were family in the sense that they were his home and the people he cared most about.

Alvin strode down the street, not really fulfilling his own orders. He decided that now was a good time to just let his pack do what he needed to have done so that he could rest as much as he wanted. But, in case someone from the pack passed by, he continued to walk up and down the streets to make himself appear busy.

As he walked down the side of one street, Callisto appeared in Alvin's vision. He shuffled down the street towards Alvin without actually taking any notice of the pack leader. Callisto seemed troubled, and that confused Alvin. Yesterday, Callisto had seemed like an very positive guy; he was the only townsperson who didn't seem extremely dangerous. What happened between Callisto's departure last night and now that could have changed him like this?

Alvin decided he wouldn't try to ask about it. He doubted that Callisto would tell him something like that. Callisto may even bonk his head like he did to that woman from the hotel. Callisto was someone that Alvin wanted to watch though. He seemed like he had the key to the town. Everyone tried to chat with him as he walked by. Alvin could only assume that Callisto knew a lot more about this town than others did, just from the way he was treated and from how many people he actually spoke to.

Alvin looked the opposite direction as Callisto and he became closer to passing each other. Strangely, Callisto said just as they began passing each other, "Hello, Alvin."

_Crap_. Alvin clenched his fists and turned to face the man. He forced a real-looking smile onto his face and responded, "Hello, Callisto."

"How'd you sleep? Did you finally get to eat this morning?"

Nodding, Alvin said, "Everything was fine. We ate breakfast at the diner." Alvin stayed silent for only a moment more before looking straight into Callisto's eyes and continuing, "Oh, me and my friends exploring the town right now."

Alvin smirked inwardly. He wanted a reaction from Callisto. Something. Anything. A flinch would even do at this point. Alvin almost felt it necessary that Callisto responded with some amount of fear of the Seville pack discovering something. If Callisto reacted the way Alvin wanted him to, Alvin would feel so much more confident about something being hidden here.

Callisto reacted immediately. He didn't even seem to think of what needed to be said. He smiled and said, "That's great. I hope you all enjoy what you see. You know, you should stop at Candy's Candy Store. Candy sells the best taffy you'll ever taste."

Alvin's clenched fists tightened. He tried his hardest to force a smile at Callisto, "Oh. Sounds great. I'll have to stop there later."

Callisto smiled at him. Alvin could have sworn there was some amount of satisfaction in Callisto's smile. He asked with that annoyingly joyous smile on his face, "Well, do you need to know anything else about the town before we separate?"

Alvin's stomach twisted in fury. The smile was long gone from his face. He glared into Callisto's overly pleasant eyes and growled out, "No."

"Well, see you later, Alvin. Find me if you need to know anything," Callisto cheerfully stated as he strolled away.

Alvin glared daggers after Callisto, rage consuming him. Alvin was going to find out the secrets of this town, if only just to wipe that stupid smile off of Callisto's face.

* * *

Callisto held his laughter back as he paraded away from Alvin. Making Alvin furious like that just filled him with joy.

Callisto made his way back to the house he and Brandon had met in last night. He walked down a couple of streets before he actually went to the home to make sure he wasn't being followed. Callisto spotted some of the travelers visiting Shroudsville along his way. They were in shops and talking to random people on the street. A few of the townspeople looked scared, while many others reacted with the silent treatment towards the pondering travelers' questions.

Callisto finally arrived at the house. Pushing his hand into his pocket, he began searching for a key to the house. Finally finding it, he pulled the little silver key out of his pocket. He entered the key into the keyhole. Callisto walked into the home after unlocking the door to let himself in and locking the door once again behind him.

Callisto carefully stepped through the home. Though the house was usually boisterous with the people who lived in the town and with the people who actually resided in the home, it was completely silent and empty at the moment. That was probably due to the fact of the travelers visiting in their town. It could also be because Brandon was just about ready to snap.

Callisto quietly wandered through the home. Though Brandon worked here and not in an actual government building, which their town didn't have, this building was still a house that belonged to a family. Brandon's family. Callisto lingered next to a wall that contained many family photos. Smiling, he stared at one that contained their entire family. Even though they were supposed to hide every trace of her, this was one photo neither he nor Brandon wanted to take down just for the sake of people coming into their town. Callisto slowly took the photo off the wall to get a closer look at it.

From the two elderly people to Brandon's pretty wife and beautiful children, his and Brandon's actual joyful smiles. This was Callisto's favorite picture. Whenever he looked at it, he couldn't help but truly smile. After studying each person closely, Callisto's eyes finally landed on the little girl sitting in Brandon's lap. Her smile was larger than the others in the picture, and it wasn't like anything Callisto had seen before. It was much brighter than any other he laid his eyes on in his life, and he doubted she got that smile from any family member. Their smiles paled in comparison to hers. Her eyes, too, were unlike any other he had seen before. Though she and Brandon had the same colored eyes, a gorgeous icy blue color, their eyes were far different. Brandon's eyes seemed cold, just like the color meant to make them, and sent a chill through anyone who looked into them. But hers, the little girl's, they were even brighter than her smile. They were warm and welcoming, though icy in color. Her eyes were a treasure. Callisto adored them so much, just like anyone who saw them did.

Looking up at the clock, Callisto quickly hung the photo back onto the wall after seeing that he was late for his meeting with Brandon. He almost ran through the home. Callisto arrived at a door that was closer to the back of the house. He reluctantly knocked on it.

"Come in," a voice called from the other side.

Callisto slowly pushed the door open and walked in. He was met with the angry, cold gaze of Brandon.

"Where the hell have you been?" Brandon said, glaring at him.

Ignoring his question, Callisto said, "The travelers are going around town and asking questions."

"Did you tell everyone what they needed to say?"

"They all know exactly what they need to say," Callisto said. He continued, "I went to each individual house last night and told the people there what they needed to say, how they should respond, the way they should act. They know what they need to do."

Brandon looked relieved. He peeked out of the blinds of the window. "Good…"

"But," Callisto said, "Alvin's asking a lot of questions. I'm sure they're all suspicious about the town and they might actually dismiss anything strange going on here eventually, but with Alvin, I don't think he'll ever stop wondering or pondering or pushing. He'll never stop trying to figure Shoudsville out. And unless we want him to actually figure out what goes on here, we need him and and his pack to leave very soon."

Brandon glanced towards Callisto. Sighing, he stated, "We're probably going need to send her out, huh?"

Callisto frowned and nodded, "If they don't stop searching for our secrets soon, even by tomorrow, we'll probably need her to do what she does best. They've already been here way to long. They've asked too many questions."

Brandon stayed silent for a while. His eyebrows scrunched together as he thought, a trait a majority of their family shared. He seemed to give up almost. Brandon mumbled, "Go ahead and send her out."

Callisto froze. "W-What?"

Brandon looked at Callisto. His eyes had darkened. They lost their coldness and now appeared lifeless. He said, "You said it yourself. The others may stop snooping, but Alvin will not falter. He will continue to look as long as he's sure something strange is going on here. So, let's shut him up. Send her out. You probably don't need to tell her anything. She has a tendency to find trouble on her own."

* * *

Alvin and his pack met back in his room at the hotel. Alvin leaned against the far wall. Everyone else sat scattered about the small room. He even had people sitting and standing in the bathroom because of the large number of people in the pack. They all chattered as they awaited the arrival of the entire pack.

Once everyone showed up, Alvin called out, "Everyone, shut up!" They all looked in his direction. He said, "Just start saying some stuff that you saw today which you thought was strange."

No one spoke up for a moment. Brian sat up and said, "Everyone's really awkward. They seem like they're on edge."

Another said, "Yeah, I agree. Out of everything here, the people are the weirdest things."

Alvin looked towards Allison, "Any strange smells?"

All eyes turned towards her. She said, "Well, it's weird. It's like in the forest before we entered Shroudsville. There's lot of false smells. No real smell trails."

"What about the people? Do they smell weird at all?" Alvin questioned.

Allison looked excited. She smiled, "Yeah! Yeah! It's really weird. They don't have smells."

Everyone went silent, their gazes locked on Allison.

Simon mumbled, "Now that I think about it, wouldn't Allison have smelled a town while we were in the woods? We were definitely in a close enough range for her to figure out a town was nearby." He looked at Allison, "Did you ever smell Shroudsville at any distance from it?"

Allison looked like she was thinking, trying to remember. Biting her lip, she said, "No, not really. At least not until we got in about a twenty minute walking distance from it."

Simon nodded. He seemed like he made a mental note of Allison's words.

Alvin watched Simon closely, "Have you figured anything out?"

Simon returned Alvin's gaze, "I have a few theories. I'm almost sure of some things. I need more evidence, though. I can't make a definitive accusation until I have more reason to believe what I'm thinking the town is hiding."

"Can we know what you think is going on in this town?" Alvin asked.

"Now, Alvin. Where's the fun in that?" Simon said, smirking.

Alvin rolled his eyes. "You better tell us what's going on immediately if you actually figure it out."

Simon chuckled, "I'll tell everyone once I know."

Alvin nodded, "Good."

Everyone else spoke of less important things they had experienced. Some rude words from the townspeople, people standing strangely, the lack of meat in the area. Though important in a sense, they weren't important enough for what the pack was trying to figure out.

Alvin took his turn to tell about his day after everyone else had spoken. He told them about his conversation with Callisto. He mentioned how he was almost sure that Callisto was the person here who knew the most about the town.

Simon suggested, "Maybe Callisto only knows so much because he's close with the mayor."

"Didn't Callisto say they were brothers?" Allison asked.

Simon's eyes widened, "How could I forget that?"

"Because you're dumb," Allison shot back. The room erupted into a fit of laughter. Simon's ears turned a bright red color.

Alvin, after laughing for a bit, told everyone to calm down. Once they finished their laughter, everyone returned their attention to Alvin.

"Anyway," Alvin began, "I think I've got an idea that'll help us out."

Now, everyone was curious.

"What if we broke into the mayor's house? He's got to have the important stuff all over his home. One of you mentioned how a townsperson said the mayor works from home. So, if we go into his house and take a peek around, I'm sure we'll find something."

Simon stood up, "Alvin, if we do that, everyone will suspect us immediately of breaking and entering. They're scared of us."

Alvin smiled, "No, they won't. Not unless all of us are somewhere else when the break in happens."

"How will we do that?" Simon asked, raising an eyebrow at Alvin's statement.

Alvin stayed silent. He merely turned his attention towards his dad, who was looking down at his hands and not even paying attention to the meeting.

Steven shot up quickly. He started speaking in defense of his adopted brother, "Hell no! Alvin, you know Alex can't do this. He's a broken man."

Alvin waved him off. He walked over to Alex. Alvin knelt down in front of him. He breathed out, "Dad."

Alex didn't look up. Alvin repeated, "Dad."

Alex grunted. Alvin smiled triumphantly and said, "Hey, Dad, I'm gonna need you to look at me."

Alex remained still. He squeezed his hands together.

Alvin said once again, "Dad."

Allison came over. She squatted down and looked up at Alex from the ground. He immediately met her gaze. She smiled sweetly at him, "Daddy, Alvin's trying to talk to you."

Alex slowly raised his headand looked into Alvin's eyes. Alvin had forgotten about how easily Allison could get Alex's attention. He also forgot how dead his father's eyes looked. It had been quite a long time since Alvin had actually tried to talk to his dad.

"Dad, we need a little help, if you don't mind."

"With what?" Alex slowly croaked out. How long has it been since Alex had last spoken?

Alvin said, "We'd really appreciate it if you could use your ability."

Wolves and vampires, though uncommonly spoken of, sometimes had special abilities. It wasn't as common in wolves as it was in vampires, but it did happen. Alex was an example of this. Ever since he was young, Alex had the ability to shift reality and make people see what he wanted them to. It had been a very long time since he had last used it, but they could still feel the ability pulsing under his skin, ready to be used at any moment.

Alex sighed, "Alvin…"

Alvin frowned and said, "I know you really don't want to and you just want to sulk and wash away in your own tears, but we really need your help."

Alex stared at him. Alvin nudged Allison's leg. Allison slowly nodded. She pulled on Alex's sleeve, which immediately responded in his dead gaze focusing on her. She smiled at him and said, "Daddy, it'd be really nice if you could help."

A frown pulled at his lips. He sighed and, returning his gaze to Alvin, said, "Alright."

A smile slowly grew on Alvin's face. "Thank you," he said. Alex responded with a nod.

Alvin stood to his feet. He looked around at everyone. He said, "Okay, so besides the people I choose, everyone will be going to where I send my dad, okay?"

Everyone nodded.

Alvin's golden traveled over the group of people. He stated, "Alright, then, the people breaking into the mayor's home are me… Simon…"

He continued looking around. "Hm… Steven… and Frances."

Frances pumped his fist and cheered a quiet, "Yes!"

Alvin chuckled before continuing, "That means the rest of you are going to go with Alex. I want all of you to make sure that people know you were out while this was going on."

He looked at Alex, "Dad, you're going to make it seem like Simon, Frances, Steven, and I are there with you. Especially make it seem like I'm there. Maybe have me get into an argument with the waiter or something so people will remember me being there. If they discover someone broke into the mayor's home, I'm for sure the first they'll suspect."

Alex nodded.

"When is this happening?" Simon asked, frowning because he was being forced to go.

Alvin looked at him puzzled, "Why do you even ask? We're doing this tonight. During dinner."

"Why during dinner?" Steven questioned.

Alvin rolled his eyes, "Everyone eats dinner out. Probably because of the meat shortage they've been talking about. Did you see how full that diner was last night? And, Shroudsville has that curfew. If we go during dinner, we'll know exactly when the people in the mayor's house will leave and when they'll most likely come back."

"Oh…" Steven said in realization.

As Simon started trying to figure out how'd they get in and all the other trivial information Alvin didn't like coming up with, Allison came to Alvin, pouting, and asked, "Why can't I come on the cool mission with you?"

Alvin knelt down to her height. He smiled at her, "Dad's not going to do his job properly without you there. Your special mission is to protect dad, okay?"

Allison thought about it for a moment before a big smile covered her face. She nodded her head vigorously.

Simon finished explaining to the group how the plan would go. Once it was clear that the entire pack understood, Alvin grinned at everyone.

"Okay, guys," Alvin said, smirking, "let's go break into the mayor's home."

* * *

**Okay! So, since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, there probably won't be an update. I'll most likely be working on the next chapter, though. (It's already in progress!)**

**Make sure to tell me what you liked, hated, what needs fixing, anything at all. All commentary is very much appreciated!**

**Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, everyone! I'm sorry that this chapter took a little longer to post, but school kind of took over. Anyway, I'm really excited for you all to read this! I've been working really hard on it. Also, one of my favorite characters makes an appearance!**

**So, let's get to it!**

**I don't own things. I only own the characters and plot.**

* * *

Scanning over the members of his pack, Alvin silently made sure everyone was prepared. Standing behind, Simon, Frances, and Steven waited for him dismiss all of them.

Alvin sighed. He looks at everyone and said, "Be careful, alright? Just remember the rules. And, if you feel like you're in danger, then please," his eyes appeared to be pleading, "_please_ get out of there."

The others nodded. Alex stepped forward, "I'll protect them."

Alvin mumbled to himself, hoping it was not loud enough for the others to hear, "That's what I'm worried about."

Allison gave Alvin an encouraging smile, "I'll help him."

Alvin's mouth curved into a half smile as he nodded. He said, "Well, good luck. We'll see you all really soon."

Alvin turned on his heel and led the smaller group away from the others. Alex and Allison walked at the front of the pack and took them into town.

The walk to the mayor's home was silent. Alvin stared forward, his eyebrows pulled together. Simon quietly repeated the plan to himself once more. Frances kicked a stone from the town almost all the way to the house of the mayor. Steven's feet suddenly became extremely interesting, so his eyes stayed glued to them the entire walk over.

Simon, once he completed his reiteration of the plan, let his eyes linger towards Alvin. "Are you worried about the others?"

Alvin nodded. He ran a hand through his hair and said, "I don't think dad can do this. And I sure as hell don't expect Allison to be able to take care of everyone. I know we have plenty of capable wolves in our pack, but if I'm not there protecting them, then I just don't think they can stay safe."

Steven scowled at Alvin, "Alvin, Alex is lot stronger than you think. Just because he hasn't actually had to protect them in hundreds of years, doesn't mean Alex can't be their temporary alpha. Alex used to lead this pack, y'know."

Alvin continued to look forward, "Steven, you have too much confidence in him."

Steven looked out in the other direction, "Maybe you have too little confidence in him."

Alvin didn't respond to Steven. He turned to face everyone and said, "Okay, the plan begins now."

* * *

The four men hid in the bushes and trees. Waiting patiently, they had been there for about forty-five minutes now. Their faces were each covered by old t-shirts that had been made into makeshift masks. Each one of them had their sights locked onto the mayor's home. It was getting to be around time for dinner, so they assumed the mayor would be leaving his home temporarily for dinner.

After a few more minutes, the front door opened up. Two men walked out. Alvin recognized one of them to be Callisto. Staring at the other person, Alvin recognized him too…as Callisto?

Taking a closer look, Alvin realized that both men exiting the home _were_ Callisto. Or, at least they both looked identical to him.

Alvin racked his brain for an explanation to this phenomenon. Then, he remembered.

"_And your name is?" Steven asked._

_"Oh, forgive my rudeness. I'm Callisto, brother of the mayor." _

Identical brothers, possibly? Alvin wondered.

They two men made their way down the trail. They conversed silently. Even with his enhanced hearing, it was far too quiet for Alvin and his comrades to understand.

When the two men were finally at a far enough distance away, Alvin signaled to the others to head towards the house. On silent feet, they all made their way over.

Alvin nodded to them. Each one understood their roles for tonight. Presently, they were to divide up and find an easy way into the home.

Steven took off towards the front of the house. Frances was in charge of looking for an entrance through the sides of the mayor's home. Alvin let himself grow claws as his half state, half wolf and half human, took over. Alvin climbed up the side of the house and onto the roof to see if the chimney was a possible entrance. Simon took the back of the house.

After a while, they heard the signal from Simon, which was just a stick snapping into two. It was a pretty natural sound in nature, so they were sure no one else would even think of the noise meaning anything.

After a few minutes, the group of four were all present in the backyard. Alvin returned to his human state so that way he could appear to be any regular robber.

Simon pointed to the back door. He whispered to them, "It's unlocked."

Alvin's attention, though, was not on the back door. Instead, it was on the doors that had their place in the ground. He recognized these doors as the entrance to the basement or tornado shelter, or really whatever the human used it for. He looked at Simon and said, "What about that way?"

Simon's attention was momentarily occupied by this mysterious entrance. He said, "It's locked. If you pull on the handles, you can tell that there's more than just the one lock. When we get into the house, someone should check out the basement."

Alvin, still curious about what was so important that it had to be locked in there like that, said, "I'll do it."

"But you're looking around upstairs," Steven stated.

The one who was supposed to search downstairs was Steven. Alvin asked, "Do you mind switching with me? I really want to know what's in there."

Steven nodded, chuckling lightly. "Fine," he said. "But you owe me."

Alvin grinned and nodded. He led the small group up the back steps, making sure to be careful because of how squeaky they were. Once they made it to the door, Alvin turned the knob as softly as he could. It took him a good two or three minutes to turn it because of how slowly and silently he was trying to open the door. Once the knob was turned all the way, Alvin pushed the door open. They all entered the house.

They were quick. They moved to their positions as fast as they could. Frances took his place at the front window. His eyes stayed locked on the road so that he could alert the others if someone was coming. Steven hurried up the steps, completely forgetting that someone could be in the house. He was too excited to snoop now that he was finally in the house. Simon found the mayor's office and began looking through the papers and documents that were present there. Alvin began looking around downstairs.

Alvin dismissed the instructions he had previously given to Steven. He wanted to find the door to the basement. He was supposed to look through the downstairs contents, but Alvin couldn't even bring himself to focus on that assignment when the idea of the secret things hidden in the basement consumed his mind.

Alvin entered and exited various meaningless doors. Not a single one led to the basement. But the basement was calling out to him! He felt that he _needed_ to look around in the basement.

After twenty minutes of failed attempts at finding the basement and complaining to Frances, who was also downstairs, Alvin decided it was probably better for him to just go through with the original plan.

Alvin looked through drawers, under furniture, in cabinets, left and right, and at the ceiling. He looked through books, even old photo albums. The only weird thing about those is that some of the photos were in black and white, when Alvin knew that the humans had discovered the technology for colored photographs. Other than that though, nothing. He couldn't find a single thing that would help him understand what Shroudsville was hiding.

Alvin began to wonder. Was his being unable to find anything actually what Callisto wanted? Did Callisto assume he and his pack would break in and look through the mayor's home? Was the mayor in on this? Did the mayor even know that they were staying in this town?

Alvin wondered all of these things in the hallway. He huffed and almost went back to wait with Frances. Almost. Alvin's attention was drawn to the wall, which was a lovely baby blue color. The wall, though probably painted perfectly by human standards, had almost unnoticeable rectangular shapes in a group where the paint was brighter than the other parts of the wall. Moving closer, Alvin examined the wall.

He racked his brain for answers as to why or how something like this would happen. Alvin pulled up all information he knew shoot humans, which honestly wasn't a lot, and thought for a few minutes about what might have been on the wall. Then it came to mind.

Pictures.

Human had a tendency to hang photos on the wall, rather than just remember life's moments like wolves did.

Then Alvin was puzzled. Why would this particular family of humans suddenly take down the pictures on this wall?

The only conclusion that came to mind was that this particular family had something in these pictures they didn't want others to see.

With a new goal in mind, to find at least one of these missing pictures, Alvin began his search once more. Alvin looked through the old photo albums again. He locate what he had in mind in the photo albums, so he dismissed the black and white picture book and searched through the rest of the downstairs.

He walked down the hall again. Looking towards the back door, Alvin noticed something that didn't catch his eye before. Next to the door was a rack meant for holding jackets, coats, and scarves. The racks, of course, were empty because they were still in the transitional strange of summer into fall. But there were still thick winter jackets by the door, except they were not on the racks. They laid on top of something. Alvin walked over quickly with excitement in his footsteps. Picking up and tossing the jackets to the side, he discovered a chest.

It was a decorative chest, probably placed there by the mayor's wife. Alvin had heard from the townspeople that the mayor had married a very darling woman who enjoyed decorating homes. That would explain why the home was set up so well.

Alvin pulled on the lid, trying to open the chest. After realizing that it was locked, Alvin raised his foot and, apologizing to the probably very sweet wife of the mayor, slammed his foot down on the lock. It broke off.

Alvin kneeled before the chest and opened it quickly. The entire chest was filled with strange items. Alvin was surprised that the chest had somehow even been closed. He searched through the strange knickknacks, gently setting some of them to the side if they kept getting in his way.

Alvin found a number of buttons, small toys, bullets, and strange little works of art. The more Alvin looked through the chest, the more disappointed he became. It looked as though the family hadn't hidden the photos on the chest. Standing up, Alvin got ready to close the chest.

Placing his hand on the lid, he started to shut the thing that had given him so much disappointment, but then something caught his eye. In the hole he had made in between the various items in the chest, Alvin spotted the corner of a picture frame at the very bottom.

Quickly kneeling onto the ground, Alvin threw the other items out of the chest. He clawed through the chest's contents like a dog digging a hole. Once he finally reached the bottom, he picked up the photo. His eyes searched the picture.

The photo was of a family. Alvin recognized Callisto standing to the left in the photo. Then he understood. This was Callisto's family. A man sat near Callisto; he looked almost exactly like him. Almost indistinguishable. The only difference was their eye colors, but it still took a while for Alvin to even notice that difference. That man was probably the mayor, and it was also most likely who he had seen with Callisto earlier.

The other members of the family weren't as interesting to him. They all looked like lovely people though, especially the woman that he believed was the mayor's wife. She held a baby in her arms and was knelt down beside two little boys. One boy looked very scared. He was on the verge of tears and was clinging to the woman. The other son scowled toward the camera. His arms were crossed. It puzzled Alvin a bit because the angry-looking boy had a creased forehead that made him appear much older than he was. He almost looked like an adult.

Alvin counted the children. One, two, three, four. One baby, two boys, and a girl.

Wait, a girl?

Alvin's eyebrow knitted together. How had he not seen the little girl in the mayor's lap? He hadn't even noticed her until now. He studied her closely. She was a cute little thing with a very beautiful smile. Eyes traveling from her smile to her eyes, Alvin felt strong pang through his heart. Quickly grabbing his chest, Alvin almost dropped the photo. His breath became labored. He leaned against the wall with eyes watering from the pain. Groaning, he pulled at his shirt until he could see his chest. He stared around where his heart was but discovered no wound. As quickly as the pain had come, it had left, leaving Alvin in complete confusion. He slowly looked back at the photo, meeting the little girl's eyes. There was no pain this time.

Alvin decided he was going to take this picture.

He turned and began walking back to the living room to wait for the others with Frances. There was a creak above him. Alvin looked up towards the ceiling. Nothing was there. He blinked once, eyes still turned upward. Once he opened his eyes after blinking, he discovered that he was now on the ground. Once again, he was very confused.

A darkened silhouette stood above him with their right foot on his chest, digging into his skin. Alvin slowly began laughing.

Assuming it was one of his pack, he chuckled and asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

The person above him remained silent. They reached down and yanked the picture out of his hand.

Alvin then knew that it was not someone from his pack. They would never just take something right out of their alpha's hands. He narrowed his eyes at the figure.

The person leaned down closer to Alvin's face. They mumbled in a deep voice, "You need to leave this house. Immediately."

Alvin playfully smirked and shrugged, "I will – just as soon as I have that picture back."

Alvin took hold of the mysterious person's head and, without giving a single warning, threw the person backwards. Alvin heard the person crash into the back door. Sitting up, Alvin quickly began his search for the picture. He soon spotted it in the entryway into the living room. The person must have thrown the picture behind them just before Alvin launched their body behind him. Taking to his feet, Alvin sprinted toward the photo.

Alvin noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye too late. The person slammed into his side. Alvin hit the wall at full force. He let out a sharp cry of pain. Lifting his arm, Alvin threw a punch at the person. The person caught his fist and twisted his arm. Alvin cried out once more.

While attempting to force the assailant clutching his fist to release their hold, Alvin shouted to the others, "There's someone else in the house!"

There was an opening in the wall next to Alvin, and he knew that it led into the kitchen. The doorway suddenly lit up. The lighting from the kitchen illuminated his attacker's face.

His attacker was a woman. Her long black hair hung halfway down her back and swayed with each movement she made as she continued holding Alvin's fist. Her green eyes were very plain and absent of emotion. Her face was similar to her eyes because of the lack of emotion.

She, without warning or any change of facial expression, rammed her knee into his gut. Alvin's eyes shot wide open and all the air left his body in as little as a second. The woman released her grip on him, and Alvin leaned backwards against the wall, gasping for breath.

The woman shook her right hand for a moment before curling it into a fist. She raised her arm, still emotionless, and launched her fist towards his temple in an attempt to knock him unconscious. Before her fist could actually make contact with the side of his head, she was pulled backwards.

Alvin looked up to see what delayed her and was met with the view of Frances struggling with the woman and attempting to hold her back. While she was being held captive, Alvin's eyes quickly searched area to find the picture. He spotted the photo still in the living room entryway. He sprinted toward it. After scooping it up and making sure that it was fine, he stuffed it into his backpack.

The woman screamed from behind him, "If you don't put it back, I'll personally tear your liver out!"

Alvin stood and turned to face her, smirking and saying, "You can't do that if you're being restrained."

The woman didn't respond. She shifted her feet before leaning back slightly. In one quick motion, she had reached her arms back, seized Frances by his shoulders, and threw him over her head and onto the ground in front of her.

Alvin's eyes widened as he looked back and forth from Frances to the woman. Frances didn't move. He remained there, groaning.

"What the hell are you?" Alvin whispered.

The woman didn't respond. Instead, she charged at him with one fist raised. Alvin, after seeing what she had done to Frances, finally understood that if she landed a punch on him, he could most likely be done for. He'd have to hit her first.

Alvin got ready for the punch. He shouted to her as she ran at him, "You know, I really don't want to fight you!"

The woman went to punch the side of his head again, but Alvin caught her right fist. Her left fist was already making a movement to the other side of his head. Alvin caught that fist too. Her right hand escaped, and she tried to punch him again. Alvin stopped that fist and all the successive punches. He was barely doing so; the woman was fast.

The woman's left fist was once again heading towards his head, and Alvin caught it. But he did not catch nor did he notice her foot that quickly met his head.

It was like dominos. Her foot hit his head. His head hit the wall.

Alvin cried out in pain, "Shit!"

The woman turned him to face her, but Alvin was in too much pain to notice. Her knee collided with his gut like it had earlier, except this time was much more painful. Alvin fell to the ground, holding his gut. The woman held him against the wall. She reached into his backpack and snatched the photo from its contents.

She released her hold on him. Raising her elbow in the air, she looked as though she was going to slam it down on his head.

"Alvin!"

He heard his name being called from above him. Slowly looking up, Alvin caught sight of Steven standing on the stairs. He had removed his mask and was staring at Alvin in concern.

The woman looked away from Alvin and up at Steven. Steven looked at her. Alvin observed Steven's face as it twisted from one of worry to one of shock. No words were spoken. No one moved. Steven and the woman just stared at each other. Steven's eyes expressed a feeling of deep pain, but the woman's were still blank just like her face. But, Alvin saw the woman's hands. They were clenched very tightly. Her nails were digging into the skin of her palms and drawing blood that lightly dripped onto the ground.

Alvin placed a hand on the wall to steady himself. Silently pulling his leg up, he observed the woman and made sure she kept her attention on Steven. He smirked to himself before quickly sweeping her legs out from under her. The woman fell to the ground.

"What the hell are you doing, Alvin!?" Steven screamed. He rushed down the stairs.

Alvin's eyes widened, "Are you serious? She's trying to kill me!"

Alvin placed his knee on her chest. He pushed downward on her chest hard to keep her on the ground. The woman looked up at him, clenching the picture tightly in one hand.

Steven hurried towards them before kneeling down next to the woman. He stared down at her, breath labored. She turned her attention away from Alvin and to Steven. Her eyes still seemed very blank.

"Steven, we need to do something with her. We can't just let her go. What should we do?" Alvin asked Steven.

Steven didn't even seem to hear him. Instead, he leaned down towards the woman's face. Gently removing some of her rich black hair from her eyes, Steven whispered, "Miran-?"

Before he could even finish asking, the woman, frame still in hand, slammed it against the corner of the bottom step of the stairs. The glass part of the frame shattered. Alvin and Steven covered their faces as the tiny shards of glass went everywhere.

The woman grabbed a larger shard of glass and stabbed it into Alvin's leg. Alvin yelped in pain and jumped backwards. She pulled the makeshift knife out of his leg and rolled away from Steven and Alvin. She rolled right into the glass from the frame. The woman lowered herself close to the ground in a position where she could launch herself at Steven or Alvin if need be. Little glass fragments stuck out of her at random places. The pain she should have gotten from the little pieces of glass was absent from her face. Her hand remained clamped around the little glass dagger. Alvin's and her own blood dripped off of the knife and onto the floor.

She narrowed her eyes at them, which was the first expression she had made this entire time. The woman growled out, "You need to leave."

Alvin, teeth clenched in pain from being stabbed in the leg, pushed Frances which caused the unconscious wolf to stir.

Alvin shouted, "Hey, we need to leave! Now!" He was mostly speaking to Simon who was still searching the mayor's office.

Steven, who didn't seem to get the memo, attempted to ask the woman again, "Mirand-?"

She interrupted him by launching herself at him. She had the dagger aimed at him and managed to slice his cheek before Alvin punched her. She was knocked onto her side and her body rolled across the floor.

Steven glared at Alvin, "What are you doing!?"

Alvin couldn't even believe it. "She's trying to kill you, Steven!"

Steven rushed towards her to see if she was okay, blood dripping down his face from the slice she managed to land on him. The woman had already recovered from the strong blow and was crouching as she had before. She once again launched herself at Steven. The woman stabbed the glass dagger into his shoulder.

Steven seemed to be more shocked than hurt. He stared at her with a pained expression. The woman stood and, running back a couple of steps before turning to face him, sprinted towards Steven. She jumped up just before reaching him and slammed her feet into his chest. Steven screamed out pain as he was thrown back and into the remaining pieces of glass.

Alvin stared at Steven for a moment before deciding that Steven couldn't do this anymore. He wasn't even trying to protect himself. Frances still couldn't defend himself. He was so out of it from having been knocked unconscious, and Alvin didn't know how much longer he could hold up on his own.

He shouted, "Retreat!"

The woman's attention turned towards Alvin, and she ran at him to continue their battle.

Frances, after struggling for a while to get to his feet, practically dragged himself over to Steven. He helped Steven to a stand. They leaned on each other and made their way out the back door.

Alvin and the woman continued to fight. His movements were beginning to become slower, his breath labored, and sweat collected on his face. The woman, on the other hand, seemed as energetic as ever. In fact, her movements almost seemed to be getting faster. Alvin felt exhausted, but it didn't seem like the woman was even becoming tired.

Simon peeked into the room. He watched their ongoing battle for a few moments. He kept his focus mainly on the woman. After watching her for a while, he smirked. "Come on, Alvin," he called out.

Alvin glanced back at Simon. While his attention was diverted, the woman managed to slam a fist into his cheek. Alvin fell to the ground from the force of the punch and gasped when the air left his body at the moment his back hit the ground.

The woman ran past Alvin and towards Simon. Simon's eyes widened, and he stared at her. He was too alarmed to move. Just before she could reach him, she was held back by Alvin, who managed to get up and grab her.

"Don't stand there like an idiot! Go!" Alvin screamed at Simon, struggling to keep hold of the woman.

Simon looked as though he was trying to convince he feet to move. He stared down at them, panic written across his face. After some time, he managed to get one foot moving, then the other, and he was soon running out of the house.

Alvin felt relieved. He looked down at the woman. This time, he wasn't going to be distracted. The woman always landed her strongest hits when he wasn't paying attention. The woman, who thought his attention was diverted, was throwing all her strength into stomping on his foot. Alvin managed to move his foot right before the blow. Her foot, still moving with extreme strength, broke through the floorboard.

Alvin mumbled, "I'm sorry," just as he hit her temple with as much strength as he could muster. The woman went limp immediately in his arms. After laying her on the ground gently, he glanced around room. He spotted the picture near the stairs. Alvin ran over, nabbed the picture, and then ran out the back door.

As he sprinted out the door, Alvin glanced back to make sure the woman hadn't somehow become conscious and chased after him. That lady was crazy. He wouldn't be surprised if she had actually managed to wake up. But after checking behind him, he was relieved to see that she hadn't followed him, so he continued on escaping the home. Alvin ran into something hard. Turning back around, Alvin saw that he had run into Simon's back. Looking confused, Alvin saw that Simon, Steven, and Frances were all just standing there with their backs to him.

Alvin asked, "Guys? What's up? We need to go."

He looked at them for a few seconds before he noticed they were staring towards the end of the backyard. Alvin followed their gaze and saw what was captivating them.

Standing at the edge of the backyard and probably at least half a foot taller than Simon, a huge, muscly male was glaring at them. He tilted his head to one side as he inspected the group. Alvin felt threatened, not by the sheer size of the male, but because of his gaze. The mysterious male stared right into Alvin's eyes with no sign of looking away.

In the world of wolves, looking into the eyes of an alpha was almost considered an offense. Looking away from someone's gaze was a sign of respect and it told the person that they are the more dominant one. But this guy, he stared right into Alvin's eyes. The hairs on the back of Alvin's neck stood up, and he growled at the male. Alvin glared right back into the male's eyes, challenging him.

The male slowly opened his mouth. Even then, Alvin didn't move his gaze away. The male growled, "Intruders."

The strange male was off. He ran at them at full speed. Alvin, feeling the deep need to defend his pack, took off towards him.

The male lifted his arm. Alvin, who thought he was going to make a fist and attempt to hit him, was puzzled when the male kept his hand wide open.

They reached each other. Alvin made a move to hit him, but the male was faster. The male grabbed a hold of Alvin's face. He lifted Alvin high into the air before slamming Alvin down onto the ground.

Alvin felt more furious than hurt. He was so sick of getting punched and kicked and thrown around today. An unfathomable desire to tear this guy apart flowed through Alvin. The man, while Alvin had been collecting his thoughts, had removed Alvin's mask as he had pulled his hand up. Alvin glared up at the male, fury evident in his gaze. The male stared down at him. His eyes were narrowed and his forehead was creased.

"Alvin!"

"Alvin, are you okay!?"

"Get your ass out of there!"

Alvin heard the various shouts from his pack members, but the only thing he could focus on was the male as he took a few steps back. Alvin slowly began to sit up, wheezing. He hadn't even noticed the lack of air in his lungs. The male glared into Alvin's eyes.

Alvin, with a lot of struggle, attempted to stand up. His legs wobbled beneath him. Taking notice of a wet feeling beneath his nose, Alvin wiped the area only to discover a large amount of blood dripping from his nose. It was probably caused by the male's hand when it basically crushed Alvin's face as he slammed the alpha's head into the ground.

Alvin's blurry gaze focused on his attacker. He hadn't noticed it before, but the male looked an awful like someone familiar. Alvin growled slightly as he said, "You look a lot like Callisto."

The number of lines in the male's forehead increased.

"Alvin, you need to stop getting angry! You're going to do something really bad if you keep going on like this!" Alvin heard Simon shout behind him.

The male, seeing Simon was the only uninjured one, sprinted past Alvin and towards him. Simon's feet were paralyzed, as they had been when the woman charged at him. He shouted at them to move. His fearfully widened eyes stared at the incoming attacker. The attacker, fist ready, was almost upon him. Simon saw no other option. He shut his eyes and prepared for the blow. After a few moments, Simon couldn't hear the thudding footsteps of the male nor did he feel any pain. He opened his eyes and was even more terrified by the sight he was greeted with.

The guy was once again at the end of the backyard. Instead of standing, he had been knocked to the ground unconscious. Leading towards him was a straight trail of upturned dirt where Simon could only assumed the guy had slid across the ground. Alvin stood above him, his back turned toward the members of his pack. Though Simon couldn't see Alvin's face, he knew what it looked like. Terror consumed Simon. They were in more danger now than they had been the whole night.

Simon slowly stepped forward. His whole body shook. He whispered, "A-Alvin."

Alvin slowly turned to him. Simon couldn't see Alvin's face because of the lack of light the moon offered. Alvin blinked before glancing at the unconscious male. He looking towards Simon. Alvin quietly said, "Let's go…"

They all nodded and silently retreated.

* * *

Alvin stared at the ceiling as Simon treated his wounds. Tissues had been stuffed into Alvin's nose by Simon to stop the bleeding. Alvin's shirt had been removed so that his various torso wounds could be examined. His foot was propped up on a pillow. Simon claimed that it would be easier to treat his leg wound, but all Alvin knew was that it hurt like hell. Simon put some medicine on the gaping knife wound in Alvin's leg. Alvin hissed at the pain.

"We're wolves and all so we heal quite easily, but if we're hurt while in our human states, it does take longer to recover. Don't you remember that, Alvin?" Simon asked.

Alvin scowled at the dull white ceiling and didn't respond.

"Are you sure you're alright, Alvin?" the soft voice of Allison asked.

Alvin calmed a bit and turned his attention to the worried little girl. He smiled at her soothingly, "I'll be fine. The wounds are just gonna take a couple hours to heal, but then I'll be as good as new."

Allison grinned at him.

After Simon had completed treating his wounds, Alvin sat up slowly. He groaned in pain and dugs his nails into the hotel bed he had been recumbent in. He quickly looked over the concerned faces of his pack. Instead of assuring them of how he'd be okay like he did with Allison, he began to talk about the two people they fought.

"There was a woman and some guy. Both of them were crazy strong. I mean, the guy looked rough, but that lady. I mean, I don't know who was tougher to fight. They couldn't have been humans. Not possible. They were way too tough to be human. I'm gonna ask Callisto about them," Alvin stated with a smirk, smug that he finally had something to hold over Callisto.

Simon raised an eyebrow, "Are you stupid? You can't do that."

Disappointed could not even describe how upset Alvin was about this. He groaned, "Why not?"

"Then he'll know for sure who was in the mayor's house," said Simon.

Alvin sighed and leaned against the headboard of the bed. His only hope of smiting Callisto had now been ripped away. Then he remembered something.

Looking towards Alex, he asked, "How'd things go on your end?"

Alex, who had been studying the hotel carpet's strange pattern, slowly turned his attention towards Alvin. He stated in a disinterested voice, "It went fine."

Allison jumped up with a big smile on her face, "It was more than fine! It was great, Alvin! Daddy made it look like Simon was reading a book, and Frances snorted milk out of his nose. Steven tried flirting with a waitress, but it didn't really work out. Actually, she slapped him. And you, it was so funny! He made you get into a fight with a waiter!"

Alvin's eyes widened. He looked towards Alex again, "Did…Did you really do all that? And everyone believed it?"

Alex simply nodded.

Alvin looked taken aback. He frowned at himself. Sucking up his pride, he said, "Dad?"

Turning his dull eyes towards Alvin again, Alex said, "What?"

"I'm sorry."

Alex blinked a few times. A small smile pulled at his lips, "You don't need to be."

Alvin smiled. His smile turned into a smirk as he asked, "Did I win that fight with the waiter?"

Alex chuckled, "No."

"You couldn't have let me win!?" Alvin groaned.

Everyone started laughing. After their explosive laughter subsided, the pack went into mindless chatter.

Then Alvin remembered something. He smirked and snatched his backpack off of the ground. Pushing his hand inside, Alvin searched for his newest prized possession. Feeling the photo, Alvin grinned and took it out. He tossed his backpack aside before staring happily down at the picture.

Frances, who had been present when the whole fight for that photo was taking place, looked at Alvin and asked, "When'd you grab it?"

Alvin smirked and responded, "I grabbed it after I knocked the lady out."

Frances chuckled.

That reminded Alvin. He looked at Steven. Steven was glaring at Alvin, probably because of what Alvin had just said. Alvin asked, "Why'd you keep freezing up?"

Steven looked away. He looked down at his hands. Mumbling, he responded, "She just looked familiar."

Alvin wanted to prod some more, but Steven wasn't the type to talk about the past. He was very much a person who liked to think about the future and its possibilities, so it'd be pretty much pointless to try and figure out why Steven was so upset.

Instead, Alvin turned his attention to Simon. "What'd you find?" questioned Alvin.

Simon smirked. He shrugged and said, "Lots of stuff."

Alvin and the rest of the pack stayed silent, hoping for Simon to elaborate, but they felt annoyed when he didn't say anything more.

"Just tell us," Alvin said.

Simon laughed and shook his head. "I can't do that. Not yet, at least," Simon said. "I need one more definitive clue. Just one more, and I'll have this entire town figured out. Besides, it's more fun to wait and tell you all."

Alvin rolled his eyes. He was sick of having this conversation with Simon. Instead, he turned his gaze down towards the photo. Staring at the little girl in the photo, he felt a mix of emotions. Mostly pain. His heart ached more the longer he stared at those icy blue eyes, but he couldn't look away.

From outside the hotel, that same pair of icy blue eyes gazed up at the window to the Seville pack's room.

"They're up there?" the girl asked.

The woman from the mayor's home, standing close to the girl and looking around suspiciously, nodded.

The girl smiled.

* * *

**I'm so excited for the next chapter. Like I honestly can't wait. I'll be working on it later today. If I have time, I'll update this story really soon.**

**If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave me a review! I really want to know what you think so far!**

**See you next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, everyone! So the update didn't take a super long time. I actually didn't like this chapter so much when I first wrote it, but now that I've reread it, I think I can make it work.**

**Anyway, enjoy.**

**I don't own things.**

* * *

Alvin stared at his reflection in the hotel bathroom mirror. The fluorescent lights caused his eyes to shine. It also illuminated his entire body, making it much easier to see where his wounds had been. Alvin examined his lit-up body. The majority of the wounds he received the previous night had healed or had mostly healed by now. Moving his face closer to the mirror, he frowned at the sight of a light bruise still evident on his temple. It was hidden almost entirely by his hair, but the only thing that mattered was that it was noticeable to him.

"Alvin!" came a voice from the other side of the door.

Recognizing the voice as Simon's, Alvin sighed and rolled his shoulders, saying, "What?"

"We need to get going," Simon responded.

"Alright!" Alvin called back.

"Also," Simon continued, "no one is going to notice your wounds. Most of them will be covered up by your clothes anyway."

Alvin didn't respond but instead checked his wounds once more before opening the door up. He met Simon's impatient gaze and smirked. Simon rolled his eyes and stepped aside. Alvin walked past him and into the hallway.

After the entire pack gathered together, as one they headed to the diner. They claimed a group of tables next to each other and began enjoying their breakfast.

Everyone in the diner, all actual residents of the town, spoke as if nothing was wrong. Simon mumbled to Alvin that they must not know about last night yet. Alvin smirked and seemed quite proud of himself.

Alvin paid attention to the chattery townspeople. It actually was strange that they were talking this much. They usually whispered around Alvin's pack, but now that didn't seem to be the case. The only conclusion Alvin could come up with was that the people of Shroudsville were either becoming comfortable around his pack or they just didn't care about them at all. Either way, Alvin was fine with it. As long as they didn't suspect his pack or himself for last night's actions, he felt fine.

The door to the diner opened. The little bells attached to the door jingled to alert the entrance of a new person. Alvin raised his gaze from his plate of eggs, toast, and more than plenty of bacon to observe the new person coming into the diner. It was a teenage boy that seemed maybe a year or two younger than Alvin himself. The boy was breathing hard and his eyes were wide as he clutched the doorknob of the diner door. Everyone turned their gazes to the boy.

He gulped air and placed a hand on his chest as he struggled to steady his breathing. Once he caught his breath, he looked at the small silent crowd before him. The boy struggled to push the words out, "T-The mayor's house was broken into last night."

The diner erupted in voices screaming over each other. Many of them were fearful, others were angry, and a few were entirely confused. Some begged the boy to give a further explanation. Alvin and his pack joined in the roused conversation of the diner to avoid suspicion befalling them. They, however, were not unspared from the attention of the diner. The majority of the people turned their attention to Alvin's pack.

Alvin opened his mouth to yell at those accusing his pack with their looks, but he was interrupted by the sound of bells. Alvin looked towards the door. The sight immediately filled him with fury. He ground his teeth and clutched his fists. Callisto looked around before he saw Alvin. His mouth turned into a smug smirk.

Callisto made his way over before grabbing an empty chair at another table. He dragged it over to Alvin's table. Alvin and his pack kept their eyes on him. Alvin saw out of the corners of his eyes two or three of his own pack members rising out of their seats and moving closer to Callisto.

Callisto, a fake smile plastered on his face, asked in a sickly sweet voice, "Alvin, how are you?"

"I didn't break into the mayor's house," Alvin snapped.

Chuckling, Callisto responded, "What made you think I was going to ask you about that?"

Alvin shrugged, "It was just a hunch."

Callisto leaned forward, that fake smile that Alvin hated still causing the ends of Callisto's lips to be pulled upward, "Well, your hunch wasn't wrong."

"What could possibly make you think I would break into the mayor's house?"

"Well," Callisto began, his smile faltering, "you and your little friends have been nothing but a bother ever since you came to Shroudsville. I've caught a few of your friends stealing food. You always start fights. And, the worst of all, you all snoop far too much. We're just a small town trying to enjoy our lives, but you. You and your friends, you all are way too much trouble."

Alvin stayed silent. He thoughts over Callisto's accusations before chuckling. Alvin responded, "Callisto, those things aren't enough to blame a break-in on us."

"They're a start."

Alvin said, "Callisto, me and my friends here were at the diner last night like everyone else. We went straight to the hotel afterwards. We stayed in our rooms for the rest of the night. You can even ask the man at the front desk."

Callisto clicked his tongue, but stayed silent beyond that. He stared at Alvin, eyes narrowed, watching his every movement. By now, Callisto's fake smile had disappeared. Instead, he bore an annoyed expression. But just as quickly as his fake smile left, a true smug smirk overcame his face. His gaze retreated from Alvin's and invaded Alex's.

"Hello, Alex. I'm bjjliAlex. Imercame his face. His gaze retreated from Alvin and invaded Alex' Callisto."

Alvin froze. His shoulders fell. His eyes widened. His breath hitched. Callisto knew, didn't he? He did. He had to. That was on purpose. He doesn't even know Alex. How does he know his name? Callisto knows what Alex can do, doesn't he? He _knows_.

Alex, slowly raising his gaze to Callisto, nodded.

Callisto smiled plastically, "Alex, I've heard about you."

Alex didn't respond. He just looked puzzled.

Without another word, Callisto stood from his chair. He smiled at all of them, he gaze lastly reaching Alvin, before leaving the diner.

Alvin held tightly into his fork. His expression hadn't changed since Callisto introduced himself to Alex. Alvin was hoping, praying, that his thoughts were wrong. Alvin slowly looked at Simon. Simon, already staring back at Alvin, nodded.

Alvin dropped his fork. He looked out the window and watched Callisto's figure disappearing down the street. A fire unlike any other was in Alvin's eyes. When someone was dangerous to his pack, he just simply got rid of them. But here, in Shroudsville, he couldn't do anything about this threat.

Thinking about that, made Alvin even wonder why he was here. Why had they even stayed in this suspicious town? It certainly wasn't because they wanted to. Well, Alvin didn't want to stay. However, he noticed how his other pack mates enjoyed being in this town. It had been forever since they had spoken to people outside of their pack, even if the people they were speaking to hated them. They also enjoyed having a bed to sleep in at night. Though he and his pack were wolves and could sleep quite comfortably well on the ground, real beds were just felt so much better.

His pack secretly wanting to stay also made Alvin worry, but trying to discover his reason for staying here was what concerned him more at the moment.

"Hey, Alvin, we're leaving."

Alvin looked up at Steven. The rest of his pack was already up on their feet. Alvin was the only one still sitting. He slowly got to his feet. The pack could tell he was out of it just by looking at him.

Steven snapped his fingers in front of Alvin's face, which immediately got Alvin's attention. He said, "Let's go for a walk."

Alvin gave a small nod. He quietly told everyone to go enjoy the town, avoid suspicion, and get as much information as they can, which was essentially what he ordered them to do every day they had been in Shroudsville.

Steven led Alvin out of the diner. Alvin stared down at the ground. Why, he continued to think about, were they still here?

There was a silence full of thought between Steven and Alvin. They both seemed more occupied with their thoughts than each other.

Steven soon glanced over at Alvin. He said, "Alvin, it made me mad too. Callisto knows about what Alex did. But, Alvin, think about it. Callisto has no way to prove it. Alex'll be fine."

Alvin quietly responded, looking down at the ground slowly moving by his feet as he walked forward, "That's not why I'm upset. Well, I mean it was originally, but not so much anymore."

"Then what's wrong?" asked Steven, looking puzzled.

Sighing, Alvin said, "I just don't understand why we're still here. I told everyone we're staying here for a while, but I have no idea why."

"Didn't you say you wanted to know what was up with this town?"

"Yeah," Alvin said, "but I'm not sure that's the reason anymore."

Steven, confused by his answer, waited for Alvin to elaborate.

"I just don't know," Alvin sighed. He ran a hand through his hair, hearing a laughter ringing through the air in front of them.

"I don't know what the reason is," he said. The laughter was louder now.

Alvin looked at Steven, who was still looking at Alvin, and said, "There's like a pull. I don't know how to describe it. I feel it getting stronger each day, but I have no idea what it is. I feel like I want to be here, like I'm supposed to be here. But that's not a real reason, right?"

Steven started to speak, but all Alvin heard was a joyous laughter from somewhere in front of them. Alvin ignored what Steven was saying and looked forward.

Alvin was slapped in the face with the sight of a girl. She was walking with someone Alvin considered not important in this moment. Her arms were crossed over her stomach as she laughed at something. The loose pieces of auburn hair tied in a ponytail atop her head still fell in her face as she laughed. She seemed to feel someone watching her because she slowly looked straight at Alvin, a bright smile overcoming her face, a giggle still escaping her lips. Alvin almost looked away, but then her icy blue gaze met his golden one. Icy blue?

Stabbing pain. Stinging. Burning.

Alvin clutched his heart and fell to his knees, a sharp cry of pain exiting his mouth. He writhed on the dirt, digging his nails into his own chest. He shut his eyes tightly, scrunching up his face as waited for the pain to pass.

Alvin felt people next to him. He could feel Steven, an unimportant person, and the girl.

The girl.

Alvin didn't know what he was doing. His body made some kind of movement that he did not tell it to do. The pain lessened a bit, at least enough for him to open his eyes. Upon opening his eyes, Alvin was met with the icy blue eyes right in front of him. Confused, Alvin looked around. His hand was gripping the front of the girl's shirt, pulling her close to him. The guy who had been with the girl earlier and Steven were both standing a few feet back, eyes wide. Steven looked frightened.

Alvin's eyes slowly traveled back to the girl, who also appeared to be a little scared. He slowly released her shirt and leaned away from her. He muttered quietly, "I'm sorry."

She sat up slowly, she looked as if she had been pulled from a standing position and onto the ground. The girl lightly dusted the dirt off of her legs. She nodded at him, "It's fine."

Alvin nodded and watched the girl. She was looking down at his chest. Alvin, slowly shifting his gaze down to his own chest, saw that he was still holding onto his heart. The pain was still there, but it was not as strong as it was before. He looked back at the girl.

She slowly asked, "May I take a look?"

"Um, yeah. Sure."

Alvin grabbed at his collar and pulled it down so that she could see where the pain was.

The girl scooted closer to him. She slowly placed her cold fingers over his heart. Alvin winced. She frowned, "Does that hurt?"

"Kind of," he muttered. He looked away as she examined the area causing him pain.

After a few minutes of silent examination, Alvin looked back at her. He asked, "So, are you a doctor in training or something?"

She smirked a bit and removed her hands, "Nope."

His eyes widened, "Then why'd you check me out?"

She shrugged, "I thought maybe I could help, but I guess not."

Alvin was in disbelief. He opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by someone he had completely forgot was there. They said, "Brittany, stop playing around. We should get going."

Alvin looked towards the owner of the voice. Light brown hair, light brown eyes, light skin. Alvin recognized him as a waiter from the diner. His name was Andrew, right?

The girl, who Andrew called Brittany, looked away from Alvin and to Andrew. She said, "I'm coming."

Steven helped her and Alvin off of the ground, Alvin taking a little more time to stand than Brittany.

Andrew moved closer to them and smirked at Alvin, "You know, you're probably just still in pain from our fight last night."

Eyes widening, Alvin remembered Allison saying that their dad made Alvin get into a fight with the waiter.

Alvin slowly chuckled and shook his head. He said, "Don't worry, you didn't even hurt me. I'm fine."

"But you just collapsed," Andrew countered.

"I do that for fun. Don't you?"

"No, because that's stupid."

"You're stupid."

"Says the guy who thinks collapsing is fun."

"It is, idiot."

Alvin felt a slight nudge on his arm. He looked and saw Steven glaring at him. Steven glanced towards Brittany and then back at Alvin. Alvin looked at Brittany, who was waiting expectantly for their little quarrel to end.

Alvin felt embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck and said to her, "Hey, thanks for making sure I was okay."

Brittany smiled at him. The simple expression was so bright to Alvin that he had to glance away. She said, "It was no problem."

"Brittany, we really gotta go."

Brittany looked at Andrew and then back at Alvin. She began, "Well, it was nice to-"

She was yanked away by Andrew, who was way too impatient. He didn't even let her say bye to Alvin. Alvin frowned and watch her being pulled away. Brittany had a frown on her face as well as she continued looking back at them.

Reluctantly, Alvin turned around. He and Steven started walking in the opposite direction. They both stayed quiet for a minute.

Alvin slowly realized something. He looked at Steven, eyebrows knitted together, "My heart doesn't hurt anymore."

Steven looked puzzled before a knowing smile pulled at his lips.

Alvin didn't get the chance to ask why Steven was smiling like that because they both heard someone yelling behind them, "Wait!"

They turned around. Alvin's eyes widened as he watched Brittany running to them as quickly as she could.

Once she reached them, Brittany began walking alongside them, her breathing labored.

"What are you doing?" Alvin asked her.

Brittany simply shrugged and smiled up at Alvin.

Alvin looked at Steven, confused. Steven was smirking.

Alvin turned his attention back to a smiling Brittany.

She nodded at him and laughed a little, "If you didn't catch it, I'm Brittany Miller."

Steven began, "Well, I'm Steven and-"

"I'm Alvin Seville," Alvin interrupted.

Brittany smiled, "Well, it's nice to meet you both. So, are you guys from out of town?"

Steven opened his mouth to speak, but Alvin took control of the conversation, "Yeah, we're from really far away."

"Are you serious?" Brittany asked excitedly.

Alvin nodded, smiling at her excitement.

Brittany looked forward, her smile falling a little, "I've never actually been outside of Shroudsville before. Well, I've gone into the surrounding forest before, but that doesn't count."

Alvin frowned, "You've never left this place? Well, that's no fair. There's a lot of cool places out there."

Brittany gave small nod in response. She gazed forward at the tree limbs reaching towards the sky.

Alvin also stayed silent. He glanced to the side to look at Steven, but Alvin saw that Steven was no longer by his side.

Alvin quickly looked back. He saw Steven walking away from them. Steven, a smirk on his face, was putting his thumbs up at Alvin. He mouthed, "Good luck!"

Alvin panicked and quickly faced forward again.

"What?" he heard Brittany ask him.

"Oh, um, nothing," Alvin stuttered out.

She leaned over to look at Alvin's other side, "Where'd Steven go?"

Alvin met Brittany's curious gaze, "He said he had to go something. Didn't you hear him?"

Brittany shrugged and laughed to herself, "I guess not."

She returned her attention to the gorgeous scenery surrounding them. Alvin watched her out of the corner of his eye.

All these beautiful pieces of nature, but all Alvin wanted to do was look at Brittany.

"You know," Alvin said, "you've been a lot nicer to me than most of the people living in this town."

Brittany smiled, "They're actually really nice, I promise. They just…"

She eyed him for a moment, "They just don't like outsiders."

"Are there any other outsiders here in town right now?" Alvin wanted to know. Maybe they were suspicious of this town too.

She shook her head. "You guys are the first outsiders we've had in a while," said Brittany.

Alvin nodded.

Neither of them talked for a while. It was a comfortable silence. The sun lightly shined down on them, the clouds interrupting its illumination every once in a while. A cold breeze blew through the town, warning the townspeople of the soon coming winter. Alvin noticed that Brittany was very occupied with looking at the coloring leaves on the trees.

Alvin slowly laughed, "You know, it's weird that you're hanging out with me after I sort of grabbed you."

Brittany looked at him, her icy blues eyes completely grabbing his attention. She said, "You looked a little out of it. I doubted you were really doing that on purpose. It's honestly most likely just a side effect of whatever is going on with your heart."

"Yeah. I don't remember wanting to grab you," Alvin responded.

Brittany smiled, "Good. You had this freaky look on your face, though. That was what really scared me."

Alvin laughed, "What look?"

"I don't know! It was scary, though," she laughed.

Alvin shrugged, "I make scary faces sometimes."

Brittany smirked, "Like your face right now?"

Alvin raised an eyebrow, "I'm smiling."

Brittany laughed. Alvin soon joined her.

After their laughter died down, Brittany said something that struck him. She, while gazing up at the coloring leaves, said, "You know, it's really obvious that you and your friends are trying to get information out of the townspeople."

Alvin quickly turned to face her. He stopped walking and stared at her. She walked forward a few steps before noticing that he wasn't walking anymore. Brittany looked back at him, perplexed.

"What?" Alvin quietly asked her.

Brittany walked back towards him, "I know you're trying to find out our town secrets."

Alvin glanced around for only a second before he grabbed her and pulled her behind a building. Alvin pushed her up against the wall roughly.

Brittany's head hit the wall, and she frowned, "Ouch."

Alvin felt bad for accidentally hurting her, and he mumbled a silent sorry to her. But, Alvin was more concerned with discovering what she knew.

Alvin stared deep into Brittany's eyes. She fully returned his stare. Alvin's heart began aching again. He felt the need to clutch it, but he instead held Brittany against the wall harder.

Alvin commanded lowly, "Tell me what's going on in this town."

"Please," he whispered desperately. He looked appalled at himself for begging.

Brittany stayed silent. In a challenging manner, she raised an eyebrow. She said, "There's nothing going on in Shroudsville. The people here are threatened by outsiders, that's all."

Alvin growled quietly. She wasn't answering his question!

Brittany could clearly see his frustration. She tilted her head to one side, which caused her bangs to move away from her face. Her eyes were now more visible, and it caused Alvin's breath to hitch in his throat.

Alvin glared into her eyes as best as he could. She kept her smug gaze right on him, not once faltering.

Alvin clenched his teeth as he slowly looked down.

He released her and took a few steps back. He stared down at the ground. Alvin could hear her laughing quietly. Alvin glanced at her and saw that she was smirking at him.

"That's the second time you grabbed me today."

Alvin looked embarrassed and nodded. Brittany laughed some more to herself.

Alvin felt someone throw their arm around him. He looked to the side and saw Steven, who had just reappeared.

Steven smiled at Brittany, "Look, Brittany, Alvin and I have to go, but we'll be sure to talk later."

Brittany smiled, "It was really nice talking to you both."

Alvin nodded. He was smiling sadly. As strange as their encounter had been, Alvin still wanted to talk to Brittany a little more.

Brittany smiled at him, "We should talk again, Alvin. This was fun."

Alvin agreed quickly, "Yeah, let's talk again."

Brittany smiled at both of them. She said goodbye and disappeared around the corner of the building. Alvin sadly watched her go.

After he was sure Brittany was gone, Steven looked at Alvin. He smirked, "So, how'd it go?"

Alvin rubbed the back of his neck. Puzzled, he responded, "I…don't really know."

Steven chuckled, "You'll know sooner or later."

Alvin raised an eyebrow at Steven, "Don't act stupid, Steven."

Steven chuckled and shook his head. He said, "So, anyway. Is Brittany suspicious?"

Immediately glaring at Steven, Alvin snapped, "She doesn't know anything."

Steven put his hands up in defense, "Whoa! Why are you suddenly so mad?"

Alvin shook his head. He continued to glare at Steven dangerously, "I don't know. Brittany doesn't know anything."

Steven stepped back, "Alvin, I'm not accusing Brittany of anything."

Alvin calmed. He looked down at his hands, confused at his own actions.

Dropping his hands, Steven asked gently, "What do you think of Brittany?"

Alvin looked in the other direction. He quietly said, "Honestly, I'm kind of scared of her."

Steven looked like he was trying not snicker, "Scared of her?"

Alvin didn't notice Steven trying his best not to laugh. He nodded his head, "Yeah. She's not like any other person I've met. She's really unpredictable. I don't know what she'll do, and that kind of freaks me out."

They began walking back to the hotel. Alvin gazed around at all the same things that Brittany was so entertained by earlier.

"How's your heart doing?" asked Steven.

"It's actually feeling a lot better than it has been the past couple of days," Alvin said.

Steven smirked. Alvin rolled his eyes.

Steven chuckled, "You should lay down and rest when we get back to the hotel."

Alvin frowned as he looked at Steven, looking just about ready to protest against the very thought of resting.

Steven smirked at Alvin, "All of these emotions, they must be tiring."

* * *

**Finally, Brittany's in the story! Now things can really get going!**

**Tell me what you think!**

**Also, if you want to give me some ideas, that'd be great. I know where I want this story to go and everything, but I'm struggling with getting from point A to point B, point A being this chapter and point B being the action. PM me if you have anything. This story will continue, but the next chapter or two might be a little dry if I can't come up with anything. Or, and you guys might prefer this, I can get straight to the action. If I do that, there will probably be a slightly awkward jump from ordinary time to action, but eh. I might do that. Just tell me what you want.**

**Actually, going straight to the action next chapter might be best. You all have been waiting long enough, eh?**

**Please R&amp;R!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Now this was a quick update. Let's get right to it.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Alvin met Brittany two days ago, and he hadn't seen her since. Alvin believed that being without her for two entire days was far too long. He actually walked through the streets by himself quite a few times in hopes of running into Brittany and maybe going on another walk with her. Sadly, his attempts had been futile.

So now, eating lunch in an almost empty diner with his pack, Alvin was trying his best to not seem upset. He plastered a fake smile on his face and laughed as best as he could at the jokes being tossed around.

"Isn't it weird that we're the only people here besides the waiter?" Frances asked.

"It is kind of strange," Alvin responded.

Allison looked at them confused, "Don't you see all of them? Everyone's gathered at the town entrance."

They all gazed out the window. Not too far away, they caught sight of an ecstatic crowd cheering around a group of people.

Andrew, bringing a glass of water for Alex, overheard them and said, "They're all getting excited because the hunters are back."

"The hunters?" asked Alvin.

"You know, the ones I told you about a while ago. There's no animals in the area, so we have groups of hunters that bring back meat for the town."

Alvin opened his mouth to ask a follow-up question, but Andrew groaned and said, "Ask me later. I'm busy."

Alvin and his pack looked puzzled because the entire diner was completely empty.

Andrew stomped away. They all saw him pick up a book and hide behind the bar to read.

Alvin mumbled, "Lazy."

His pack began laughing which turned their conversation into even happier things. A few talked about leaving the town, while others talked about some really nice people from Shroudsville. Steven discussed the possibility of picking up a girl here, which caused everyone to laugh very hard.

A jingling sound rang through the diner, which signaled the entrance of a new person into the diner.

Alvin, who was enthralled by a story being told by an older member of the pack, felt someone nudge him. He looked to the side and was met with a smirking Steven. Steven gestured toward the front door of the diner. Alvin turned his head. At the sight of her, his eyes widened, and he quickly stood to his feet, loudly bumping into the table as he did so.

Brittany, who had just entered the diner, looked away from a small object held in her hands and turned her gaze to Alvin. A large smile overtook her face and she said, "Alvin!"

Alvin smiled at her in a greeting. He hardly noticed her stuff the item that had been held in her hands into her pocket. She made her way over to him.

"Where've you been lately?" Alvin asked her.

Brittany shrugged, smiling, "I've been hanging out in the woods. The leaves are just really pretty right now because it's fall, so I didn't want to miss them before winter comes."

Alvin chuckled lightly. He heard someone clear their throat. Alvin looked toward the noise, and he saw that the entire pack was watching Brittany. Steven was looking at Alvin expectantly.

Alvin's eyes widened a bit in realization. He, without thinking, placed a hand on the small of Brittany's back and gently pushed her towards the group of tables his pack occupied. "Everyone," he said, "this is Brittany Miller."

Everyone stared at her.

Brittany smiled at them politely, "It's nice to finally meet all of you. I've heard so much about each of you from other people living here."

No one responded.

Alvin looked at her, "Do you want to join us for lunch?"

Brittany smiled, "Sure."

Alvin guided Brittany to a chair. As soon as she sat down, Alvin took the seat next to her.

Brittany, a smile apparent on her face, asked the group, "So, have you been enjoying your stay? I mean, besides everyone not being so welcoming…"

Allison, instead of answering Brittany's question, was staring in awe at Brittany. Allison commented, her eyes lighting up, "You're really pretty."

A few of the others who had been staring at Brittany, quickly agreed. Brittany smiled brightly, a smile that Alvin felt was familiar but he couldn't quite place where he had seen it before. She smiled at everyone and said, "Well, thank you."

After that, everyone quickly became comfortable with Brittany. She had this air about her that sent calming waves through them each time she smiled. She fit in well with the pack. Brittany made jokes they would typically make and laughed at many of the things they laughed at.

Alvin watched her the entire time in admiration. He smiled at her every time they caught each other's gaze. She would occasionally bump her knee into his leg to grab his attention, and he would do the same to her.

Alvin glanced around at all of the pack members. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, except Alex. Alex, who was usually emotionless, was staring at Brittany. He looked utterly shocked with his wide eyes and mouth agape. Alvin, feeling strangely protective over Brittany, lightly kicked Alex's leg under the table so he would look away from her. Alex looked down at his plate. His forehead crinkled slightly as an expression of intense thought crossed his face. Alvin took note of Alex's expression and turned his attention back to Brittany.

Brittany gasped in realization after a moment, "Hey, did you guys hear about the hunters coming back today?"

They all nodded.

She smiled, "Well, since the town has a large supply of meat again, my mom is making a huge dinner tonight for my family. Do you guys want to come eat with us? She's a really great cook."

Brittany looked straight at Alvin as she invited them to dinner. Alvin slowly looked at everyone else. Their gazes were all turned to him, telling him to decide.

Alvin, after a moment of thought, met Brittany's icy blue gaze with a smile, "Sure, we'll be there."

Brittany quickly stood to her feet. She grinned at Alvin, "You guys will love it. I have to go tell my mom and help her get dinner ready now. I'll see you later, though."

Alvin nodded. She told them an address and established the time they should arrive. Once Brittany made sure they knew those details, she said her goodbyes. They all said bye to Brittany as she left the diner, the sound of a bell jingling behind her.

As soon as Brittany left, a quiet air overtook the Seville pack. They ate their lunch in silence, each with a disappointed face. Brittany had taken all the light and cheer with her when she left, and now all they could do was wait for dinner to slowly come.

After deciding that they should stop eating lunch in order to save room for a meat-filled dinner, the Seville pack returned to their hotel to wait for the hours to tick by.

They all made their way into Alvin's dull gray room. Alvin locked the door behind them, which sounded off with a loud _click_. Alvin immediately turned his attention to Alex. Glaring, he said, "Why were you looking at Brittany like that?"

The surrounding group of people seemed shocked by Alvin's question. Alvin didn't usually become angry over people not included in his pack.

"I…she…she looks a lot like this one person who almost led the wolves against the vampires in the war as queen. That wolf didn't like your mother very much," Alex stuttered out.

Alvin, thinking back on Brittany's smile from earlier, suddenly came to a realization. He took quick strides over to his backpack. Snatching it off of the ground, he dug his hand into it until he found what he was searching for. Alvin dropped his backpack to the floor.

Making his way back over to Alex, Alvin gazed down at the photo he stole from the mayor's house. A smile erupted on Alvin's face. He looked at Alex joyfully, "I had suspicions, but I'm sure now. The little girl in this photo is Brittany as a child. It has to be. But that's not my point. Brittany's mom looks a little different from her. Does the woman look more like Brittany or her mom?"

Alex took the photo from Alvin. Alex stared at the woman in the photo. Tears showed in the corners of his eyes. Alvin managed to hear Alex whisper, "Bridget…"

Alvin watched him expectantly. Alex slowly tore his eyes away from the photo and looked at Alvin. Alex gulped back apparent tears and said, "That's Bridget."

Steven walked over, chuckling, "Alex, Bridget died in the war."

Alex, appearing as though he had been reminded of something very painful, murmured, "Oh yeah. I forgot."

"What's so important about Bridget anyway?" asked Alvin.

Steven smirked and couldn't stop himself from laughing, "Are we about to have the mating talk?"

Alvin's eyes widened, "Wait, what?"

Steven chuckled and responded, "Bridget was Alex's engraved mate. And before you even ask what that is, an engraved mate is the wolf you're supposed to be with. It's engraved upon your soul that you're meant to be with that someone. Your hearts call out to each other and such, and that's supposed to be the love of your life."

Alvin froze for a moment. He was confused. "But, what about my mom?"

"Your mom was Alex's marked mate, which is the wolf you end up with. It's the one that you give a physical mark to claim as yours. That's the one you have kids with, but you're not actually supposed to spend your life with them," Steven responded.

Everyone by now had turned their attention to Alex, Steven, and Alvin. They stared with expressionless faces.

Steven continued, becoming much less cheerful and sighing, "Alvin, a mate isn't always both engraved and marked. It's either one or both. Your mother, sadly, was only Alex's marked mate. Bridget, on the other hand, was his engraved mate."

Alvin quietly asked, "Why'd he mate with my mom if he had someone like Bridget?"

Alex cut into the discussion, frowning, "When the war was going on, any type of mating had to be approved by a group of alphas to ensure the strongest children possible were produced for the war effort. They didn't approve of Bridget and me. Instead, they chose your mother to be my mate. And I went along with it. Bridget and your mother hated each other and butted heads all the time because Bridget had been the other candidate for queen of the wolves, but the wolves chose your mom instead. And before I knew it, Bridget was killed during the last battle of the war. That was that."

Alvin mumbled, "It kind of stinks to find out your mom and dad didn't love each other."

Alex looked at Alvin and frowned, "Alvin, I loved your mom. I just didn't love her as much as someone else could have, and she didn't love me as much as Bridget probably could have. Your mom and I did eventually fall in love. That's why I've been mourning her all this time."

Alvin quietly nodded, gazing down at the photo.

"Did Bridget ever take up another mate?" Allison asked in a tiny voice.

Alex sighed, looking relieved, "Not that I know of. She was more occupied with the war. Before the alphas said we couldn't be together, Bridget had even told me she didn't want to take me up as her mate until the war ended, so we wouldn't have that dangerous bond mates share."

Steven smiled at Allison, "Bridget was a very nice woman, but she was scary on the battlefield. I sensed that something was familiar about Brittany, but now that Alex brought up Bridget, I can definitely see the similarities."

Simon, who had been listening silently during the entire conversation, cut in, "Did Bridget have any siblings?"

Alex chuckled lightly, his sadness dispersing slowly, "Yes. She was the youngest child and only daughter of nineteen children in her family."

Simon looked smug, "Eighteen older brothers? Her brothers must have had a large number of children."

Alex nodded, "I'm pretty sure the majority of them had mates and children during the time of the war."

Simon looked to Alvin, a triumphantly smug look on his face. He stated, "I figured it out."

Alvin, immediately leaving behind his disappointment, couldn't help but grin. He questioned, "What is it then?"

Simon returned the grin, "I think the best time to announce it is at dinner tonight, don't you think? So that way the mayor and Callisto can confirm it themselves."

In an instant, Alvin had his hands on Simon's shoulders. He smirked directly at Simon and breathed out, "Yes. I want to see the look on Callisto's face when he hears his town's inner secrets being spilled from the mouths of outsiders."

* * *

**OH MY GOSH! I've literally been waiting so long for Simon to finally know everything.**

**Also, I hope you liked that little bit of background information on wolves. Remember it! This information is going to be important later!**

**This chapter is the beginning to the real thing. ****I'm really pumped to write this section of this story. Relationships are going to be built, realities will be destroyed, and blood will spilled. Things are going to get exciting. (I've already started the next chapter, so it shouldn't be too long before my next update!)**

**Also, I apologize for the length of this chapter. I'm just really ecstatic over what's about to happen, so I wanted to get this part out of the way as quickly as I could without making it feel too rushed.**

**Please R&amp;R!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, everyone! Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Try to stay calm, okay?" Alvin called back at his pack as they made their way to Brittany's house. He pulled at his collar and patted his hair, making sure each strand was in place.

Steven snickered, "You're the one freaking out."

"Because you get to see Brittany!" Allison shouted in a sing-song voice.

Alvin scoffed, "I wouldn't get excited about that. I'm excited to finally have some good food."

Of course, Alvin was lying. He was overly ecstatic to see Brittany again, even though he had seen her only hours ago. Alvin had spent his time thinking up tons of conversation starters to ensure there was no lull between them. He had already instructed his pack to stay out of his and Brittany's conversation if at all possible.

Allison, smiling, said, "I'm so excited to eat. I bet Brittany's good at cooking."

Steven turned a curious eye towards Allison, "Why do you think that?"

Allison responded, "If she spends as much time on her looks as she spends on cooking, then I think we're in for a good meal."

Everyone chuckled. Alvin glanced back at everyone, making sure they all looked nice. He didn't want them to embarrass him in front of Brittany.

Steven, catching Alvin checking on them, laughed, "Alvin, calm down. Brittany probably doesn't care about how we look. Just focus on having fun tonight."

"Not too much fun," Simon added in. "We have things to clear up."

Alvin nodded, sighing. He looked forward once again. He knew, sadly, that tonight wouldn't just be for fun.

From behind him, Alvin heard Allison say, "It looks like it's going to rain. Should we ask Brittany if we can borrow an umbrella?"

Alvin waved her off, "Nah. We'll be fine."

They began nearing Brittany's house when they noticed all of the curious eyes. All around them, the townspeople were lined up, watching the Seville pack make their way to Brittany's home. A few people stared at them from windows. They saw two woman hanging up laundry on lines keeping their eyes on Alvin's pack. Even a baby held in his mother's arms was watching them closely.

Alvin rolled his shoulders back and held his head up. He began walking at an even pace. The actions made him look much larger and were intended to threaten the onlookers, but they continued staring. The rest of his pack imitated his actions, but to still no avail.

Alvin led his pack all the way to Brittany's house. Stopping everyone in front of the house, Alvin made one last check as rain began to lightly sprinkle down on them from above.

He smiled at everyone, "Remember your manners, and don't eat too much like animals."

After a responding lighthearted chuckle sounded from the pack, Alvin carefully stepped up the stairs leading to the front door. He knocked upon the wooden door and waited patiently for it to open.

The door opened, and not by Brittany as he had been expecting, but by Callisto. Callisto's fake smile and cheery greeting irritated Alvin, but he let it slide. Alvin was going to see Brittany, so he didn't need to be in a grumpy mood.

"Come on in," Callisto said, with a hint of annoyance playing in his eyes.

Alvin smirked and nodded. He led everyone inside Brittany's home. Alvin gazed around the living room and was surprised by how beautiful the home was; it looked very different during the day. The fireplace illuminated the glass vases sitting atop small tables located next to fluffy-looking couches throughout the room, which in turn caused flickering spots to be reflected around the room. The decorated carpet beneath their feet was gorgeous with its twisting and twirling patterns. A recent family photo, which hadn't been there when Alvin and a few of his pack members broke in, was hanging above the fireplace. Brittany was the center of the photo. Alvin didn't pay much attention to the rest of her family members in the picture.

"Is that them?" Alvin heard Brittany's voice ask from a separate room.

"Yes," Callisto responded, not too happily.

Brittany entered the living room from the left entryway. She had changed from her outfit earlier that day into something different. It was a black sleeveless dress with a white collar that reached down towards her knees, which suited Brittany very nicely. Her auburn hair had been pulled up into a bun, but pieces still fell out of the intricate bun and into her face. A blue apron was wrapped around Brittany and a large wooden spoon was held in one of her hands.

Brittany smiled brightly at her guests, "Hey, guys."

Alvin smiled back at her, "Hi, Brittany."

She smiled back at him, "We're almost done making dinner. Do you guys mind waiting in here until dinner's ready?"

Alvin waved his hand, "It's no problem."

Brittany once again smiled. She walked over to Alvin quickly. Tiptoeing so she could reach his ear, Brittany whispered to him, "Hey, sit next to me, if you can. Or across from me. Either way works."

Alvin, feeling his cheeks warm up a bit, adjusted his collar, "Sure."

Brittany grinned and hurried back into the kitchen to finish dinner. Alvin watched her leave and then nonchalantly turned back towards his pack. He was greeted by many smirking faces. Allison made a kissy face at him. Alvin rolled his eyes.

Alvin gestured for everyone to sit down on the couches and wait for dinner to be prepared. Alvin, sitting in between Steven and Alex, took notice of Alex wiping his sweaty palms on his pants.

"Dad, calm down," Alvin mumbled.

Alex whispered in a panicked voice, "I'm trying. I'm nervous to see Bridget."

Steven cut in, "It's not Bridget."

"Right," quickly agreed Alex.

They sat in silence for only a minute before the front door opened, revealing a young teenage boy carrying a table. He was focused on trying to maneuver the table through the doorway.

Steven mumbled to Alvin, "Hey, that's the guy who burst into the diner and told everyone that the mayor's house was broken into."

Alvin observed the boy before recognizing his face. Alvin quickly turned his attention to Callisto, who was leaning against the wall. Callisto was already looking at Alvin, a fake smile plastered on his face.

Alvin, looking away from Callisto, mumbled to Steven, "Something is going on here."

Steven nodded in agreement. He turned his attention to the door. Alvin saw Steven's face visibly turned pale. Steven appeared full of panic and quickly looked at Alvin. Alvin, confused, shifted his eyes toward the door before he saw why Steven was freaking out.

Carrying another table into the house was the male that attacked them when they broke into the mayor's house. He easily entered through the door with the table. He dragged the table into the living room, not once glancing at Alvin or his pack.

The two boys added the new tables to the dining room table to make it even longer to accommodate for all of their guests.

"Thank you, boys!"

It was a female voice that had called out those words of thanks from the kitchen. Alvin easily recognized that it was not Brittany who said that. Alvin felt Alex tense up next to him.

Steven mumbled across Alvin, who was separating himself and Alex, to Alex, "It's not her."

Alex nodded quickly, staring down at his hands.

Brittany poked her head out of the kitchen. With a triumphant smile upon her face, she said, "Dinner's ready. You all should make your way to the table."

The pack, heeding her words, entered the dining room. Once they walked in, they saw that Brittany's family was seated in a line on one side of the table. The two boys who had carried in the tables sat next to each other with another little boy seated next to the male who had attacked the Seville pack. Callisto had left a three seats in between himself and the little boy. Alvin and his pack slowly took their seats across from them.

Brittany was in and out of the kitchen with different platters of food. She moved quickly, trying to finish carrying the dishes so that they could all begin eating. Each item of food looked delicious. Alvin felt his mouth watering a bit, so he looked down as she carried out the food.

Another woman came out of the kitchen, holding a dish in her hands. She looked very similar to Brittany, and Alvin figured that she was Brittany's mother. Her eyes were dark blue, and her hair was a reddish-brown color. Brittany and the woman had very similar faces.

Alex, catching sight of the woman, stared. His eyes widened, and he quietly stuttered to himself. The woman, glancing around at the guests, caught Alex watching her. She smiled politely at him before walking back into the kitchen.

Steven mumbled to Alex once again, "See? It's not her."

Alex didn't respond to Steven's comment.

The woman and Brittany finished carrying the food into the dining room. The woman took her seat. She looked at Brittany and said, "Brittany, dear, can you go grab your father?"

Brittany, who was about to take her seat across from Alvin, nodded and left the room.

The woman looked at her guests and smiled welcomingly, "Well, it's nice to finally meet you all. I'm Hannah."

Alex looked downcast.

Hannah continued, gesturing to the three boys, "These are my sons."

She pointed at the young teenage boy, "That's Colton. The little one over there is Brad. And the last boy, my oldest son, is Cyrus."

The three boys nodded in greeting at the Sevilles. Alvin closely watched the male that had attacked them, who had just been identified as Cyrus.

Cyrus, looking at Alvin for the first time that day, nodded his head in greeting. Alvin noticed a dangerous look deep in the eyes of Cyrus.

The sound of heels clicking against the wooden floor indicated that Brittany was walking back to the dining room. She walked in and smiled at everyone. Following behind Brittany was a large man. A cold air passed through the room as he entered. Alvin, narrowing his eyes at the man, grabbed the knife he was supposed to eat with. This man, he was dangerous. Alvin felt it. He gripped the knife tightly in his hand as Brittany began naming each person in Alvin's "family" as she called them. The man didn't look at Alvin's pack. His eyes stayed glued on Brittany. Alvin suppressed a growl in his throat as he watched the other man gazing at Brittany.

Brittany took the seat across from Alvin. Smiling at everyone, she gestured to the man, "Everyone, this is my dad, Brandon Miller. He's the mayor of the town."

Everyone quietly greeted him. Alvin slowly placed the knife back upon the table. Brandon took the last empty seat, which was set in between Brittany and Cyrus.

Brittany watched her father sit. Once he looked comfortable, she looked towards Alvin and his pack. She gestured to the food, smiling, "You guys can start eating."

The Sevilles didn't wait a single second. They grabbed at the food and piled their plates high with juicy meat, creamy mashed potatoes, soft bread rolls, a variety of colorful vegetables, and many other things. The Millers didn't make a move to grab food at all until Alvin's pack had finished creating their plates. Alvin noticed the way the Millers made their plates was quite strange. Hannah, in a similar way to the Sevilles, snatched large hunks of meat, as did Cyrus. Colton and Brad barely grabbed any food, and when they did, it was mostly meat. Brittany seemed to be a fan of the salad and vegetables, while Brandon didn't eat anything at all. Callisto appeared to be the only one at the table eating like a normal person.

Brittany looked directly across the table at Alvin. "How's the food?" she asked, a hopeful look on her face.

Alvin, who was unprepared to hold conversation with all types of food stuffed in his mouth, nodded his head in approval with a smile upon his lips.

Brittany grinned, "I'm glad you like it."

Allison waved her hand at Brittany and cheered out, "It's really, really good!"

Brittany laughed, "Thanks, Allison."

Brandon said in a monotone voice, "You and your mother did a good job."

The level of cheer that Brittany had been exuding seemed to diminish a bit. She nodded her head, a weaker smile upon her lips, "Thank you, dad."

Alvin raised an eyebrow at the interaction. Brandon hadn't even touched the food. What was he doing? Was he teasing her?

Everyone had begun to converse quietly. Brittany returned her attention to Alvin. She asked, "So, Alvin, how long do you guys plan on staying in town?"

Alvin shrugged, setting his fork down. "I don't really know," he said. "We've been enjoying our stay so far, so I think we might stay for a while."

A relieved look crossed Brittany's face. Alvin noticed the expression, which confused him, but he decided not to ask about it.

Alvin watched Brittany finish her salad, "Britt, what were you doing this whole time my friends and I were in town? I thought I had met everyone living here, but you just showed up randomly."

Hannah glanced in their direction. Alvin didn't know if Hannah was watching them because he called Brittany "Britt" or because he asked about something she didn't want him to know. Brittany set her utensils down. She shook her head, scowling, "I was sick, so I was in bed when you guys first arrived."

Hannah's tensed shoulders dropped and her slightly squinted eyes returned to their pleasant expression. Alvin glanced in Hannah's direction. Whatever happened, it seemed like Brittany apparently said the right thing.

There was a loud _clank_ to Alvin's right. Alvin looked towards the noise. He saw Simon, an irritated expression etched into his features. Simon looked directly at Brandon, "Sir, may I ask a few questions about the town?"

The Millers all turned their heads to Brandon. Brandon didn't look at Simon. He kept his eyes on his empty plate as he pondered the thought. After a moment of silence, Brandon slowly looked at Simon. He responded in an emotionless voice, "Fine."

Simon opened his mouth to begin his interrogation, but was interrupted by Brandon putting a hand up which told Simon to cease in his action.

Brandon turned his head to Brittany. He said, "Go to your room."

Alvin looked on in disbelief, "Why?"

Neither Brandon, nor Brittany gave Alvin's question any attention. A frown was quickly placed on Brittany's face. She resisted, "Dad, I want to talk with everyone."

He stated simply, "Go."

Brittany frowned, "But, Dad."

Brandon narrowed his eyes at Brittany, "Are you disobeying me?"

Brittany didn't respond. Instead, she and Brandon glared into each other's eyes. No one in the dining room uttered a single word. No one even moved.

Brittany, after the long period of silence, sighed in defeat. She slowly pushed her chair out and stood. Alvin opened his mouth to protest Brittany's being forced to leave, but he was interrupted by Brandon.

Brandon, returning his gaze to his plate, said, "Miranda."

Someone caught Alvin's eyes. A person was standing in the corner of the room. He hadn't even noticed her presence until now. Alvin wondered how long she had been there.

The woman walked away from the corner. Alvin, eyes widening in complete shock, recognized her as the woman that attacked them while they broke into mayor's house. He glanced between the woman identified as Miranda and Cyrus, trying to fathom why they were here at all.

Steven opened his mouth to say something to her. He had his hands placed on the table, preparing to jump to his feet and say something, but Alvin quickly elbowed Steven's side. Steven looked at Alvin. Alvin shook his head. Steven sighed in defeat and leaned back in his chair.

The black-haired woman took a hold of Brittany's arm. Brittany glanced back at Alvin with a disappointed expression upon her face. Alvin gave her a small, sympathetic smile. Miranda led an upset Brittany out of the room.

The entire dining room remained in a blanket of silence. Throughout the house, there was a loud noise of scraping metal heard. After what sounded like a large door slamming, Miranda returned to the dining room, without Brittany. She returned to the corner she had appeared in. Miranda nodded her head to Brandon.

Brandon's eyes slid over to Simon. "What?" he hissed.

Simon, folding his napkin, said simply, "I've discovered the secret of Shroudsville."

Alvin had prepared for alerted expressions or the sound of the Millers dropping their utensils in shock, but he was not prepared for them to burst out laughing. The Millers cackled at Simon's statement, each almost falling out of their seats. Even Brandon had a smile upon his face. Simon's face turned red, he patiently waited for their laughter to cease.

Callisto placed his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand. Chuckling, he questioned Simon, "What do you think Shroudsville's secret is?"

Simon, after a deep breath to regain his composure, looked at Callisto. His pushed his glasses up on his nose and leaned forward. Simon said confidently, "Shroudsville is made of the human descendants of those vampires, wolves, and humans involved in the war. After intermingling and breeding, vampires and wolves have been bred out of the local gene pool, though the humans occupying the area do exude wolfish or vampire-like qualities. Qualities that are common among the residents of Shroudsville, such as paleness, sharper teeth, staring to show dominance, closeness to one's pack, the celebration of meat, and extreme strength, are all the result of mating between the groups."

The Millers didn't utter a word. They watched Simon as he spoke.

Simon continued, "If you need an example, just take a look at Miranda or Cyrus. Miranda bears pale skin and extreme strength. Cyrus stares to indicate that he is more dominant than those around him, he wolfs down meat, and he also is shown to have extreme strength."

Brandon, neither confirming nor denying the claims, looked directly into Simon's eyes, "When have Miranda or Cyrus been shown to have this 'extreme strength'?"

Simon looked to Alvin. Alvin, who was still shock over what Simon was saying, took a moment to register Simon's worried expression. Alvin, once he had calmed, looked at Brandon. "We're the ones who broke into your home," Alvin said simply. Brandon should know that those words indicated they had seen the power of Cyrus and Miranda.

Brandon shifted his eyes toward Miranda. Miranda gave him short nod, confirming Alvin's statement. Brandon stayed silent, thinking over the information. After a moment, he looked towards Alex. Instead of continuing his conversation with Alvin, Brandon said to Alex, "You are very talented in your ability to create illusions."

Alex nodded in thanks, eyes turned towards Hannah instead of Brandon.

Alvin cut into the conversation, "Sorry to get off track, but is what Simon said true?"

Brandon pondered over the question. Hannah placed a light hand on his shoulder. Brandon's tense shoulders relaxed. He looked directly at Alvin and stated simply, "No."

A furious Simon growled out, "How am I wrong? I've looked at this from all angles."

Callisto snickered, "Apparently not _every_ angle."

Simon shot him a look. "Explain," he commanded.

Callisto chuckled and said, "We just gave you all fake information and such. You know, a red herring. We wanted you to come to a conclusion like that."

Simon frowned in confusion, "If the town was so successful in derailing us from the correct answer, then why are you telling us the truth now?"

Sighing, Callisto responded, "Sadly, the number of wolves everywhere is decreasing rapidly. We weren't going to tell you all of this information about Shroudsville, but now-"

Cutting in, Alvin smirked, "You need us."

Callisto sent a glare in Alvin's direction.

Alex ignored the looks between the two of them and continued with the main issue. "You knew about our pack?" he asked.

Callisto, looking away from Alvin and to Alex, said, "Yeah. Hannah knew about you guys."

Alex looked towards Hannah quickly. Hannah understood he was going to ask how she knew. Instead of waiting for him to ask the unbearable question, she quickly answered, "I'm Bridget."

Alex froze. His breath caught in his throat. He gripped onto the tablecloth.

Bridget, ignoring the expression upon Alex's face, looked towards Alvin. She said, "Look, Alvin. Your pack has three Alpha wolves, which is the largest number of Alphas we've seen within a single pack in such a long time. And in these desperate times, we need strong wolves, like you and your pack members."

Alvin's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "We only have two Alpha wolves. Me and my dad."

Callisto pointed a lazy finger towards Allison, who was trying to reach for the white frosting-covered cake placed in the center of the table. She looked at Callisto, "Hm?"

Alvin raised an eyebrow, "Allison is definitely not an Alpha."

Bridget entered the conversation, "No, she is. Alex himself is an Alpha, and Violet, your mother, was a distant descendent of a series of Alphas. It's a sure thing that Alex and Violet bore more than one Alpha child."

"How do you even know it's her? It could be any one of my other siblings," Alvin said.

Bridget responded, "Miranda knows it's her. She's been following you and your pack ever since you entered the forest surrounding Shroudsville."

All eyes turned towards Miranda. She seemed to be more interested in the ceiling than the conversation. Miranda stated dryly, "You can tell just by watching that Allison is an Alpha. She just hasn't grown into her abilities yet."

Alvin, feeling irritated, asked Bridget, "Why has she been following us?"

Callisto rolled his eyes, "It was for basic information, Alvin. We couldn't allow some random wolves to wander around in our territory. You could been a threat."

Allison frowned. She entered the conversation quietly, "How was Miranda following us without us noticing?"

Callisto said to her, "Miranda is a very stealthy vampire."

Alvin heard Steven whisper in a shocked voice, "Vampire?"

Simon cut in, a curious expression on his face, "Wait, that still doesn't make sense. I'm sure if she kept a certain distance, we wouldn't be able to feel the cold air that vampires produce. I'm also sure she could probably make her way around us without making a single sound, but what I'm definitely sure about is that Allison should have been able to smell Miranda near us."

The Millers all became silent. Miranda looked in a different direction. Brandon squeezed his hands into fists. A worried expression crossed Callisto's face.

Bridget sighed, "They'll need to know if they're going to help us."

Callisto agreed sadly. He stated, rubbing the back of his neck, "It's not necessarily that Miranda doesn't carry a smell."

"What is it then?" asked Alvin, his eyebrows knitting together.

Bridget scratched the skin behind her ear. She said, "It's going to be a little tricky for you to wrap your head around, but just try to understand, okay?"

The Sevilles nodded and watched her patiently.

Bridget looked at Alvin as she explained, "I'm a wolf. Brandon, my mate, is a vampire."

Alex glanced downward. Alvin was not amused. "So?" Alvin asked Bridget.

Bridget repeated, stressing the words, "We're _mates_."

Simon, realization dawning on his face, gasped as he quickly glanced between Cyrus, Colton, and Brad. His eyes were wide, and Alvin could tell Simon was preparing to ask a barrage of questions if someone didn't stop him.

Alvin turned his eyes towards Bridget. She was waiting expectantly for Alvin to understand her words. The secrets and long pauses of this dinner were beginning to irritate Alvin. He turned his attention towards Simon. He snapped, "Simon, what the hell does that mean?"

"Don't you get it, Alvin?" Simon asked, appearing excited.

"No," Alvin spat out.

"Alvin," Simon grinned, "Bridget's and Brandon's children are mixed."

Alvin still felt confused. He looked at Cyrus, Colton, and Brad, trying to understand the concept.

Steven chuckled, "This is a nice joke, but vampires can't have children. The only way they can multiply is by biting humans."

Brandon responded, "Vampires who were previously human can bear children. Vampires born from two humans-turned-vampire cannot reproduce. I was a human before becoming a vampire."

Simon, a fearful realization dawning on his face, cut into the conversation, "Wait a second. What does this really make your children?" He looked at Bridget, eyes worried. Did Brandon and Bridget create monsters? From his previous experience with Cyrus, the answer to that question would be yes.

Bridget sighed out, "The children of vampires and wolves are complicated. They are rarely born as a definitively defined creature."

Alvin, still irritated, said, "Try explaining it."

Bridget glanced at Alvin, taking notice of the fury growing in his eyes. She nodded her head and said, "I'll try. It's difficult."

Bridget looked over her sons. Colton, a somewhat skinnier and weaker young man, seemed like the easiest to explain at the moment. She gestured to Colton, "Okay, so Colton is what you could consider a superior wolf-minor vampire mix, which just means that he's more of a wolf, but he carries vampire qualities. Colton can shift into a wolf. He can drink blood, but he doesn't carry the poison that vampires have in their fangs. He also does not share the speed that vampires possess."

Pointing to the little boy, who carried a similar emotionless expression to Brandon upon his face, Bridget continued, "Brad is a superior vampire-minor wolf mix. He can't shift into a wolf, but he craves meat almost as much as a wolf. His instincts are sharper than an average vampire, which leans more toward his wolf side. Brad still consumes blood, and he carries poison in his fangs."

Bridget paused, glancing at everyone to make sure they understood. Seeing that everyone seemed to know what she was saying, Bridget continued with Cyrus, "Cyrus is a little bit different. Cyrus is a pure mix. That means that his vampire side and wolf side are equal, and they have combined together perfectly. Cyrus carries all the aspects of both wolf and vampire."

Everyone seemed to understand. It was crazy that creatures like Cyrus, Colton, and Brad even existed, but here they were, sitting right in front them.

A thought suddenly came to Alvin. His golden eyes glowed with wonder. He was extremely curious, "Bridget, what about Brittany? What kind of mix is she?"

Bridget sighed and glanced at her very silent family. Their faces seemed downcast. They weren't watching her speak to the Sevilles anymore, but were instead looking anywhere else. Bridget turned her attention back to Alvin reluctantly. Bridget bit her lip for a moment before sighing once again in defeat. Alvin watched her every movement. He was more curious than angry now. He wanted to know. Bridget opened her mouth to speak.

"Brittany is a human."

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**I was actually going to continue this chapter, but eh. I thought a cliffhanger would be a little better. Also, I was too tired to write anymore, haha.**

**Anyway, the next chapter is almost completely plotted since I divided this chapter in half. I just need to add a few things to the end of it and then I can write it, which shouldn't take super long.**

**By the way, my updates for this story are going to have some time between them soon because my life is about to be super busy. Sorry!**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Please R&amp;R!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey, everyone! I'm sorry for the wait. I really hope you like this chapter!**

**I don't own things.**

* * *

The entire room was silent. They all stared with wide eyes at the woman called Bridget. Bridget kept her sight on Alvin, eyebrows pulled close together, as she waited for some kind of response. Alvin looked directly at the woman. Even though he was watching her, his eyes indicated that he was very far away, maybe somewhere where what she just said wasn't true.

Alvin murmured more to himself than to anyone around him, "How can this be?"

Bridget sighed, "Mixes are complicated. They can be a variety of combinations. Mixes can be composed of a small portion of wolf's blood, a large section of vampire's blood, completely in half, or even more various types."

Alvin didn't respond. He was hardly listening. He watched Bridget through glassy eyes.

Bridget hesitantly said, "Brittany is…special."

The sound of Brittany's name caught Alvin's attention. He slowly focused on Bridget, "How so?"

Bridget suddenly appeared very tired. She ran her hands through her dark red hair, letting out a weak sigh. She rubbed her temples, looking at Alvin once again. Moments ago, his amber eyes looked so distant, but now they stared at Bridget with such an intensity that she had to turn her eyes downward.

Alvin asserted, "Bridget, tell me."

Bridget, feeling overpowered by Alvin's mere stare, began explaining, "The wolf and vampire portions of Brittany are equal."

Simon chimed in, "Wouldn't that make Brittany like Cyrus?"

Bridget shook her head, "No, unlike Cyrus, Brittany's vampire and wolf side haven't mixed. Her sides have remained separated. They're like oil and water. They neutralize each other. Because neither of her sides have become dominant over the other or have combined, Brittany has been left without any abilities. She's a human."

Alvin gritted his teeth and turned his head downward. He muttered to himself, "That's unfair."

Simon frowned and protested, "But, Bridget, Brittany can't be a regular human. I mean, she's a human formed from a vampire and wolf. There has to be something more to her."

Brandon, entering the conversation for the first time in a while, stated, "Brittany is not a regular human."

Everyone watched him patiently for an explanation. Alvin glanced upward at Brandon.

Brandon continued lazily, "Brittany is the one protecting the town."

The Sevilles appeared puzzled. Simon opened his mouth to question what Brandon said, but Steven covered his mouth.

Brandon continued, "Brittany's blood is what keeps us all safe. The smell of her blood is very rich and wonderful. It's so strong that it not only envelopes the whole town, but the entire surrounding forest."

"But I can't smell anything right now," Simon interrupted.

"Once you've been in the forest for so long, you become used to the scent of Brittany's blood and soon you don't even know that you're smelling it," Brandon explained.

Gesturing to Miranda, Callisto added in, "I understand that Allison has a good nose, but even she wouldn't have been able to tell that Miranda had been following your pack. The smell of Brittany's blood overcame Miranda's own scent. Allison became used to the aroma of Brittany's blood, and it left her unable to truly smell what was around her."

Allison looked embarrassed. She turned her head the other way.

The rest of the Sevilles became silent as they thought over the information. Allison glanced towards Alvin and frowned when she couldn't see his face. Alvin stared straight down, making it unable for everyone to see his expression.

Simon leaned forward in his chair. He placed his chin on top of his folded hands, which were supported by his elbows resting on the table. He looked at Brandon curiously, "So, would Brittany's blood be considered a prize?"

Brandon stated, "Brittany's blood is highly valued. She herself is a treasure. Her blood is definitely an item vampires crave, and we're very sure that the meat on her bones would more than satisfy a wolf."

Alvin turned his eyes dangerously to Brandon, "So, you're saying that Brittany's basically a feast."

Brandon nodded, looking unfazed by the statement.

Bridget continued, "Because she has both wolf and vampires parts, though neutralized, the vampires and wolves of Shroudsville love her. She's one of us. Brittany's very important to all of us. That's why she wasn't allowed to meet any of you for a very long time. We don't want to put her in danger."

Callisto said, "Look, Brittany doesn't know anything about this. So even with this knowledge now, none of you can say anything."

That infuriated Alvin. He felt his blood beginning to boil. He squeezed his hands into fists. Alvin growled, narrowing his eyes, "Why would you keep something so important from her?"

Brandon stated emotionlessly, "It's important that she doesn't know any of this. If Brittany were to know, she would run away, possibly to a human city. She would be out in the open where it would be easier for her to be killed. If we do not tell her, Brittany is allowed to live a very peaceful life without worry of being killed. She has a very difficult task, and this is only way she won't have to stress over her duty."

Alvin snarled, "You're keeping her caged like a bird!"

Brandon eyed Alvin dangerously, "I don't believe it's your place to tell me how I should or shouldn't care for my daughter."

Alvin opened his mouth to protest. He slowly shut it, looking down. He growled lowly to himself.

Brandon asked in an irritated tone, looking at everyone, "Does anyone have anything else to add?"

Everyone remained silent. They all glanced between Alvin and Brandon, concerned looks on their faces.

Brandon stated sharply, "Good. Miranda, bring Brittany back."

Miranda nodded her head and exited the room. Brandon narrowed his eyes at the Seville pack, "If anyone mentions the information they heard to Brittany, I'll kill you."

The Sevilles, understanding the threat, nodded in agreement. They mentally prepared themselves for the return of the human. There was a silent curiosity surrounding the room, moving in closer. Alvin stared at the entryway of the dining room, nervously awaiting Brittany's arrival. He stared anxiously, fidgeting slightly at the smallest sound. The people of the dining room heard the clicking of her heels as she made her way down the hallway. Alvin's breath hitched in her throat when his eyes met her icy blue ones.

Brittany re-entered the room, a big smile on her face. Her eyes searched the gloomy room, her smile slowly sinking. Brittany glanced at her father, who was looking once again at his plate. Sighing, Brittany took her seat. The dining room was quiet with no one uttering a word.

Brittany glanced sideways at her father. Muttering, she asked, "What'd you guys talk about?"

Brandon, picking up his cup and lifting it to his lips, stated, "It was nothing that concerns you."

Alvin, glaring down at his lap, saw Brittany's hands squeeze the table out of his peripheral vision. He gritted his teeth, holding in a growl aimed at Brandon.

Brittany, trying to restart the conversation, asked Alvin, "So, where exactly are you guys from?"

Alvin, instead of responding, stood up. He coldly said, "We need to go."

Brittany looked taken aback, "What?"

Alvin turned his not-so-warm honey colored eyes towards the girl, "My family and I have to leave. We're going back to our hotel, grabbing our things, and leaving Shroudsville. This place is too messed up."

Brandon looked satisfied with the words spilling from Alvin's mouth. He leaned back in his chair and silently watched the interchange.

Brittany frowned, slowly standing to her feet, "Why? Why is this happening so suddenly?"

Alvin didn't answer Brittany. He signaled to his pack and walked out the front door with each member of his pack following him quietly. They walked out into the dark night.

Brittany remained where she was, tears slowly coming to her eyes. She had her mouth open slightly, a silent protest escaping her lips.

"Well, they were nice people, hm?" Brandon said, looking pleased with the results of the night.

Brittany turned her eyes coldly to Brandon. Her normally warm icy blue eyes were fierce, forcing a well-deserved glare at Brandon. She pushed her chair out. Running as quickly as she could manage, Brittany made her way out of the house, down the porch steps, and after the Sevilles.

"Wait!" Brittany cried out, sprinting towards the group of people.

Alvin turned on his heel, looking at the girl chasing after them, a shocked expression gracing his features. Steven opened his mouth to say something to Brittany, but Alvin put a hand up to stop him. He gestured to his pack, and they began walking again without acknowledging Brittany.

Brittany, breath already labored, pushed her body to the limit and caught up to Alvin. She swallowed buckets full of air, grabbing onto Alvin's sleeve. "W-Wait," she breathed out.

Alvin didn't utter a word to her. He kept moving, jerking his arm away so she'd release his sleeve.

Brittany frowned and followed after him, "Alvin, I'm sorry if my dad said something. He has no filter. Please, don't leave the town over something like this."

Alvin muttered, "We're going."

Brittany felt something ignite in her as she watched Alvin not even glance her way. She squeezed her hands into fists, a glare fixing on her once welcoming face. Brittany shouted, "Alvin Seville!"

Alvin turned to look at her. His whole pack stopped moving to watch them. A few people exited out of the houses surrounding them.

Alvin hissed, "What?"

Brittany stomped forward, moving so she would be standing directly in front of him. She glared into his eyes, "Look at me when I'm talking to you."

Alvin raised his shoulders, making him appear much larger. He didn't say anything. Instead, he glared daggers into her eyes.

Brittany forced the words out, "Now, why are you leaving?"

"I just heard some things I didn't like," Alvin mumbled, glancing back at her house to see her family walking towards Alvin and his pack.

Brittany stomped her foot, just narrowly missing Alvin's, "That doesn't give you a right to leave!"

Alvin felt something break inside of him. His eyes burned slightly and his body tingled. Alvin snapped at Brittany, "I have every right to leave! I don't need some little princess of a girl telling me what hell I can or cannot do!"

Brittany's eyes widened. She shut her mouth, and her shoulders dropped.

Alvin shook with anger, until he saw that look on her face. He realized what he just did. Alvin stuttered out, "B-Brittany, I'm so sorry. I-"

Brittany waved a hand to stop the spilling of words from his mouth. She turned around and started to walk quickly back to her house. Alvin followed after her, a frown etched on his lips. His heart ached, but he refused to collapse and allow the pain to consume him. Brittany was more important right now.

Alvin grabbed Brittany's hand, halting her from walking away. Brittany yelled at him, turning her eyes dangerously towards him, "Let go of me!"

Alvin opened his mouth to say something, but then something else caught his attention. He mumbled, "Shut up."

"Who do you think you are!? You think you can just tell me to shut up after yelling something like that at me!?" Brittany screamed at him. She pulled her hand back as hard as she could, but Alvin's grip was iron.

Alvin pulled Brittany close. He slapped a hand over her mouth. He mumbled once again, "Shut up, Brittany."

Poison dripped from Brittany's glare that was directed at Alvin. She screamed at him in a muffled voice, trying to push away from his hold.

Brittany's family, who had been staying at a distance from them, began sprinting towards them. Callisto shouted, "Get your hands off of her!"

Alvin glared at them, gesturing for them to stop. The Millers slowly stopped running towards them. Brandon walked slowly, narrowing his eyes. He stared out into the dark shadows of the forest. Brandon put a hand into the air and made a strange signal. Miranda moved forward. She walked past the Sevilles and stood between the forest and Alvin's pack. Her eyes traced the wooded area. Everyone, including the townspeople, felt it. They each stared out into the forest, paying close attention to whatever lay hidden in the shadows.

Brittany, an obvious extremely agitated look on her face, managed to remove Alvin's hand from her lips. She quickly pushed away from Alvin and put a large amount of space between them before she screamed in furious rage, "What the hell is going on!?"

There it was. A quick blur charged out of the forest. It weaved through everyone, avoiding every single blow aimed at it. Loud chuckles were heard from the blur.

They all saw it. There it went. It was going for Brittany. It was charging in her direction. Brittany couldn't see it. Her eyes couldn't catch something moving that fast. She continued to glare at everyone without notice of the imminent danger.

By the time Alvin finally looked at Brittany, Miranda was restraining someone from getting to her. Callisto ran forward and placed himself in between Brittany and the person Miranda held back. Alvin moved forward slowly and examined the man.

The person had hungry, blood-colored eyes which we aimed at Brittany. His pale skin seemed even lighter due to the moonlight shining down on the town. He reached one hand forward towards Brittany. A sick grin was upon his twisted face and fangs protruded from his mouth. A vampire.

Alvin, after examining the vampire, turned his sights to Brittany, and he felt his heart shatter.

Brittany stood in one place, frozen. Tears were in her eyes, and she had her fists clutched, ready to take whatever blow the vampire was about to land on her. Brittany shook lightly, and her teary and fearful eyes stared directly into the lustful red eyes. Brittany managed to whisper very quietly, "H-Help."

Miranda snatched the hand that the vampire had reaching out towards Brittany and held it back. Miranda began pulling him away from her, but the vampire fought against the woman's pull. He tried to move towards Brittany.

Brittany, still staring at the creature, stuttered, "W-What is that thing?"

The vampire lurched forward. He managed to get very close to her. His lips were near her neck. He took a deep sniff and whispered into her ear, watching the very fearful girl with glowing mischievous eyes, "You smell delicious."

Alvin squeezed his hands into fists. He took a few steps forward, but Steven stopped him.

Brandon's eyes shifted to a wine red color. He growled, "Callisto, get her inside."

Callisto grabbed a hold of Brittany's arm. He tugged on her lightly and said quietly, "Brittany."

Brittany couldn't seem to hear him. Her body shook, and a few tears had started to escape her eyes.

Alvin watched Brittany. His own eyes began watering a bit. A pang shot through his heart, and he once again moved forward to go to Brittany. Steven stopped Alvin once again.

Callisto pulled on Brittany's arm until she stumbled into the direction he was trying to take her. Callisto dragged her to the house. Brittany followed after blindly, eyes turned back towards the vampire. Bridget followed after them. They went into the mayor's house. Everyone in the surrounding area heard the door lock with their enhanced hearing. Bridget shut the curtains to the Miller home.

Brandon turned his head to the vampire. He snarled, "How did you find this place?"

The vampire chuckled, "I stumbled upon your little hunters this morning."

Brandon sent a glare towards the group of hunters, who had been out drinking only moments ago but were now watching the whole exchange of words. The hunters shifted their eyes away.

The vampire grinned at Brandon and taking notice of him being a vampire, asked, "So, are you saving the girl for a special day? May I partake in her blood with you?"

Brandon opened his mouth to speak, a furious look twisting his face, but he was interrupted by the head of the vampire being ripped off.

A wolf tackled the vampire down, his jaws clutching the neck of the vampire in his mouth. The vampire screamed, eyes wide, but the wolf bit down on his neck, separating his head from his body in a bloody manner. The wolf, a dark russet color with glowing golden eyes, stood taller than Brandon on all fours. He snarled and shook the vampire's body around, spraying blood everywhere. After a moment, he dropped the body to the ground. The wolf slowly shifted back into a human, which was a quick and almost painless process. Alvin slowly climbed off of the ground and glared down at the vampire's corpse. Blood dripped from Alvin's mouth and covered his chest. He slowly turned his gaze to Brandon and muttered, "You can't let people like this talk. They only say stupid things."

Brandon watched Alvin for a moment. Alvin stared back at him. Alvin's eyes had darkened with rage, and a emotionless look was upon his face.

Brandon slowly turned his eyes to Miranda. He nodded towards the bloody mess, "Get this cleaned up before morning."

Miranda nodded her head as a few townspeople came towards her to assist her in cleaning up the corpse.

Brandon turned away. He began heading back towards the house, not saying anything else.

Alvin stepped forward, the the blank visage disappearing from his face and being replaced by a worried expression, "What's going to happen to Brittany?"

Brandon silently waved him towards the house. Alvin followed Brandon slowly with his own pack walking after Alvin. Brandon led the group of people into the house after unlocking the door. Alvin stopped moving when he saw Brittany.

Brittany was screaming hysterically. She was being forced down onto the couch by Callisto and Cyrus. She thrashed around and yelled at two men holding her down, "Get away from me!"

Brittany heard the front door open and close. She turned her head towards the noise and was met with a bloody Alvin. Brittany's eyes widened, and she screamed louder. She fought against the people holding her down with all her might. Brittany struggled and shouted, crying for help.

Alvin watched her sadly. He didn't speak or move. He just quietly observed the distressed girl.

Brittany shouted, tearing up, "Please, get me away from here! Please! Someone! Mom, Dad, Please!"

Bridget walked towards Brittany slowly. She watched her silently.

Brittany, seeing the look on her mother's face, began shaking her head vigorously. Tears streamed down Brittany's face, and she begged her mother in a whisper, "Mom, please. What's going on? Please get me away from here."

Bridget didn't respond to Brittany. She gave the unsettled girl a comforting smile. Bridget looked at Cyrus and Callisto. She ordered kindly, "Put her on the carpet."

More tears filled Brittany's eyes, "Mom!"

Cyrus and Callisto gently moved Brittany to the carpet located in the center of the living room. Brittany fought against them, but to no avail. The two stranger males pinned Brittany to the ground easily, and she continued to fight against them.

Bridget kneeled next to Brittany. Brittany struggled against Callisto and Cyrus. She stared up at her mother, beginning to cry hard, "Why is no one answering me!? What is going on!?"

Bridget shushed the panicked girl. She pushed Brittany's bangs away from her face. Brittany sniffled and looked up at her mother.

Alvin and his pack observed the whole event silently. Alvin clutched his heart, watching Brittany with a pained expression.

Brittany looked around, breathing hard. Callisto held her head in place, so her movement was even more restricted. A terrified expression covered her face. Brittany looked up at her mother, tears streaming down her face.

Bridget smiled comfortingly at Brittany once again. Bridget slowly placed a hand over Brittany's eyes.

"What are you doing?" Brittany whispered in scared tone.

Bridget shushed Brittany. Bridget bowed her head down and slowly pressed hers and Brittany's foreheads together.

The whole room was silent. They watched the event quietly. Alvin stepped forward, seeing Bridget's motions as a threat. He narrowed his eyes at Bridget.

Bridget and Brittany both jolted at the same time. Brittany went limp. Her hands, which had been reaching up to remove Bridget's hand from her eyes, dropped to the floor. Cyrus and Callisto let go of the previously struggling girl. Bridget slowly raised her head. Bridget's eyes were closed and tears lightly streamed down her face. She opened her eyes and smiled weakly at Brandon, "She's okay."

Brandon looked relieved. He moved forward and knelt before Bridget. Using his sleeve, Brandon softly wiped away the tears from Bridget's face. Bridget smiled thankfully at Brandon. She stood to her feet slowly, wobbling slightly. Brandon held Bridget close, making sure she didn't fall.

Bridget glanced around at everyone. Alvin noticed a lot more of the townspeople were standing in the mayor's living room than before. Bridget sighed, "Brittany remembers the Sevilles leaving after having a very pleasant dinner. She and myself cleaned up the plates used during the meal. Soon after, Brittany took a shower and got straight into bed."

Brandon stated, "So, in other words, tomorrow will be normal. Spread the word."

The townspeople, who had been standing in the room, left out the front door to go tell everyone else the information.

Alvin walked towards Bridget and Brandon. A puzzled look was on his face as he said, "But, none of what you just said really happened.

Bridget smiled weakly at Alvin, "I am able to manipulate memories. It's my ability. The things I said are what Brittany remembers."

Alvin frowned and nodded, "Oh. Is she-?"

Bridget interrupted him, a smile remaining on her face, "No, she's not going to remember you blowing up in her face. Just act like nothing happened tomorrow."

Alvin nodded a tiny bit. He looked down at Brittany. The tears she had shed earlier left small stains on her cheeks. She breathed in and out quietly. Her expression was very troubled.

Brandon helped Bridget to the couch. After making sure Bridget was fine, Brandon bent down and scooped Brittany into his arms. Brandon carried Brittany away.

Bridget smiled at Alvin, "I think you all should go back to the hotel. It's been a long day. Make sure you get rid of that shirt. Get some rest."

Alvin nodded his head in silence. Allison lightly grabbed Alvin's hand. She, along with the rest of the Seville pack, led Alvin back to the hotel.

The Seville pack gathered in Alvin's temporary room after getting cleaned up. Alvin sat on the edge of his bed, gazing down at his hands. He wore a new shirt after having hidden the other one, bloodied and torn, in a drawer.

Allison sat near Alvin and tiredly rested her head against his arm. Alvin didn't take notice of her presence, instead focusing on his swirling thoughts.

Alvin looked towards Alex slowly. He asked, "What did Bridget do to Brittany?"

Alex sighed and sat at the desk in the corner of the room. He explained, "Bridget already told you she can manipulate memories. She simply replaced the memories Brittany had made with fake ones."

Still seemingly puzzled, Alvin questioned, "But what happened to her old memories? I can't imagine that they just vanished."

"Bridget's explained it to me before. It's something along the lines of a person being able to suppress only a few memories. There's a limit."

Alvin frowned. He asked, "What happens if they hit the limit?"

Alex glanced at Alvin, "Then they remember everything. The barrier blocking off the suppressed memories is destroyed, and the hidden memories come flooding back. I think that's what Bridget said to me."

"So, in other words, Brittany is eventually going to remember this night and any time before that she's seen something she wasn't supposed to see?" Alvin said quietly.

Alex nodded, "Yes, if I'm remembering what Bridget told me correctly. Bridget can only push down so many of Brittany's memories. That's probably why Brandon commands the townspeople to act like humans. If Brittany sees our world so many times, Bridget will make Brittany hit her limit, and all those memories will come rushing back."

Steven joined in the conversation, sighing and folding his arms, "And I can't imagine it'll feel too good when it happens."

Simon nodded, "It would probably be immensely painful for her memories to come back. Brittany also seems to have an inherent fear of wolves, vampires, and blood. The unnatural frightens her. By keeping their true forms a secret, I assume the people of the town only want to protect her."

The Sevilles nodded.

Alvin sat there silently. He thought over their words slowly. After a moment, he agreed with the townspeople's motives. He wanted to protect Brittany too.

* * *

**Ha, I almost considered changing this chapter. I was going to go a whole different direction, but I think I liked how it turned out.**

**Also, I'm sorry for the wait on this chapter. I told you all last chapter I was going to be a little busier from now on, so updates are going to be delayed. I'll try my best to update as quickly as I can, though. And for all you worriers, I'm not going to abandon this story. :)**

**By the way, I need to say something. Thank you all for your wonderful support. It really means a lot. You guys motivate me to write more and more each day. I really am grateful for all that you guys have done for me. Thank you.**

**Anyway, tell me what you think!**

**Please R&amp;R!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, everyone! Here's the newest chapter of _The Greatest Battle_. I hope you enjoy!**

**I don't own things.**

* * *

She opened her eyes slowly. Glancing around her darkened room, she began stretching. Brittany sat up in her bed, lightly moving the blanket off of her body. Her head ached. It throbbed in tune with her pulse. She felt queasy and dizzy. Placing one hand over her mouth and the other on the side of her head, she held in a barf. Once the nauseous feeling lessened, she climbed out of the bed. Brittany trudged across the dark room. She knew her surroundings out of habit, so she easily found the lamp. She switched it on.

Once her room was illuminated, Brittany made her way into the bathroom slowly. Brittany stumbled to the sink. She gripped the edges of the sink and stared at her reflection. Her skin was pale, and her normally bright blue eyes seemed very dull. Her body shook lightly. Brittany's breath was labored.

Looking into her own eyes in the mirror, Brittany whispered in disappointment, "It happened again."

* * *

"Bye, Mom!" Brittany said as she ran through the living room toward the front door.

Bridget quickly peeked out of kitchen to see her daughter rushing out of the house, "Come back before nighttime!"

Brittany called back, "Okay!"

Brittany sprinted out the front door. She ran down the path from her house that led into town. Callisto was walking up the path. He had some business in the mayor's office. He held a few papers in his hand. Callisto was reading the pages, but he heard an approaching noise coming from in front of him. He looked up from the sheets of paper. Callisto's eyes widened in shock, and he quickly jumped off of the path as Brittany zoomed by.

Brittany laughed as she waved at him, "You've gotta be more careful, Callisto! I'll see you later!"

Callisto watched her figure disappear into the town. He started gathering the papers that he dropped when he jumped out of Brittany's way. Callisto sighed out, smiling, "That girl is gonna kill me someday."

Brittany momentarily stopped moving. She was still near her house. She gazed out at the forest. Brittany smiled and said, "It looks pretty today."

Brittany brushed her bangs back. She suddenly remembered why she was rushing in the first place, "I'm gonna be late."

She dashed into town. Everyone greeted her as she ran by. Brittany waved at each person she passed. She searched the crowds quickly, looking for a certain someone. Brittany spotted him exiting the diner with his family. He had his back turned to her. Brittany took a moment to contain her excitement.

After she rid her face of such a big smile, Brittany shouted his name, "Alvin!"

Alvin's shoulders tensed. He quickly spun around to face Brittany. His eyes were wide in panic.

Brittany sped toward him. Once she was closer, she slowed her movements until she was walking.

"Brittany," Alvin said in shock as she approached. He quickly pushed the memories of last night out of his head. She wouldn't remember them anyway.

Brittany waved at his family, "Hey, you guys don't mind if I borrow him, right? Thanks."

Brittany snatched Alvin's arm and began dragging him away. A surprised look broke out on Alvin's face. He turned his head and looked at his family with wide eyes. Steven whistled. The rest of the pack exploded in laughter at Alvin's expression.

Steven called to Alvin, "Hey, remember! We've gotta talk later!"

Alvin nodded. He turned his eyes back towards Brittany. Brittany pulled him along, not saying anything. Alvin stared at the hand she was using to grab his arm. He felt a twinge in his heart as the memory of Brittany chasing after him last night to grab his arm resurfaced. He gulped and cast his eyes in a different direction. Alvin slowly glanced at Brittany's neck. He painfully recalled the vampire from the previous night managing to get very close to biting Brittany. Alvin cringed and looked up at the sky, breathing in and out deeply.

Brittany glanced back at Alvin with a smile on her face, "Last night was really fun."

Alvin nodded his head the tiniest bit, barely even looking at the girl.

She pulled on his arm. Brittany said, "We should do it again."

Alvin nodded, "Yeah."

Brittany's grip on Alvin's arm slowly loosened until she let go completely. Instead of rushing, she slowed her pace.

Alvin felt her hand leave his arm, and he quickly looked at her. Alvin dropped his arm, turning his head to the side. He mumbled, "You didn't have to let go."

Brittany glanced at him, "What'd you say?"

Alvin's face warmed up. He looked away from her. Alvin waved her off.

Brittany rolled her eyes. She scoffed, pretending to be annoyed, but a small smile pulled at her lips.

Alvin followed after Brittany quietly. He watched her auburn hair, which was held up in a high ponytail, swing back and forth. It was hypnotizing.

Before Alvin knew it, Brittany had led him to the area where she was almost attacked by a vampire the previous night. It was much prettier during the daytime. The leaves were colored due to the fall season. Crunching noises resounded from their feet as they made their way through the fallen leaves. The colder air burned Alvin's nostrils as he breathed in and out. Alvin gritted his teeth as he glared at the surrounding area. To cease from being reminded of the horrible things from last night, Alvin tried to keep his eyes on Brittany's swaying ponytail. After a minute of watching her, Alvin felt much calmer.

Brittany walked straight into the forest, and Alvin followed her. They walked in silence with Brittany leading Alvin through the wooded area. Brittany came upon a stack of logs. The logs were pretty tall; they stood higher than Brittany's head. It seemed as though Brittany still wanted to go in this same direction, but the log was too tall for her. Brittany's expression looked troubled as she silently tried to find a way to get passed it. Alvin glanced around and noticed that logs were stacked up like this all around. He assumed it was probably a manmade wall to protect Shroudsville.

Alvin watched Brittany struggle. He sighed in a tired fashion and quickly climbed to the top of the log wall without trouble. Alvin gazed down at Brittany. Brittany was looking up at him, eyes wide.

"That was quick," she said.

Alvin shrugged. He reached a hand down to her and said, "Here, grab on."

Brittany crossed her arms and gave him a challenging look, "I can get up there by myself."

Alvin raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure? We've been here for a little while now, and you still aren't up here."

Brittany scoffed and mumbled something. She turned her eyes away from him.

Alvin pulled his hand back up. He shrugged, "Suit yourself."

He turned his back to her and started getting ready to jump down on the other side of the log wall

He heard Brittany quickly say, "Wait."

Alvin smirked and looked at her. He reached his hand down to her once again, "Need a hand?"

Brittany didn't say anything. She took a hold of his hand. Alvin effortlessly pulled her up. Once he safely brought her to the top of the logs, he helped her down to the other side of the log wall. Alvin jumped down after her.

Brittany walked forward. She was trying to hold back a smile, "I didn't need your help."

Alvin chuckled, "Yeah, I know."

Brittany smiled and led him deeper into the forest. There were more and more trees, and the underbrush was getting thicker.

"Um, why are we going into the woods again?" Alvin asked Brittany.

Brittany shrugged and gave him a pleasant look, "I don't know. I thought it'd be fun. Last night we said we were going to hang out today, so I thought this would be cool."

Alvin's expression turned into one of confusion. He couldn't recall saying anything of the such last night. Then he suddenly remembered Bridget altered Brittany's memory, and this must be one of those memories.

Alvin smiled at Brittany, "Oh yeah. I forgot we were doing something today. But, yeah. This is a great choice."

Alvin watched Brittany's expression change, and he wondered if he said something wrong. Brittany's beaming face shifted into one of disappointment.

Brittany looked forward. She pushed aside a large branch as she walked ahead. She mumbled, "You're acting weird too."

Alvin's eyes, after hearing her whispered words, widened. Did she know? Did she remember?

Alvin moved after her quickly. He began, "Wait, Britt, what did you just s-?"

Brittany was turning to look at him and answer what he was saying, but as she turned, she released the branch held in her hand. The branch swung back with force and slammed into Alvin's nose.

Alvin reeled backwards, quickly grabbing his nose and crying out in pain.

Brittany gasped and rushed back to him, "Alvin, I'm so sorry!"

Alvin waved her off, scrunching his eyes in pain. He forced the words out, "It's no big deal."

Brittany looked even more worried as she saw blood drip down to his mouth. She gently took hold of his hands and moved them away from his nose.

Alvin watched the concerned Brittany with eyes wide. Brittany examined his nose, a frown evident on her face. She lightly pressed on his nose and asked, "Does that hurt?"

Alvin quickly reached for his nose, grunting loudly in pain.

Brittany appeared even more guilty. She stepped back and moved her hands away from him. Brittany looked at him and quietly said, "I'm sorry."

Alvin gave her a weak smile, "Brittany, it's okay, really. Besides, I should be more sorry than you. You have to see my face looking all gross."

Brittany's frown slowly changed into a smile, and she laughed. She looked like she was feeling much better.

Alvin shrugged and wiped the blood away from his nose, "And my nose doesn't even hurt that bad."

Brittany looked relieved. She sighed out happily, "Good."

Alvin smiled. He breathed in and out deeply, testing his nose. Alvin paused after sniffing the air. He took another whiff and mumbled, "What's that smell?"

Brittany tilted her head to the side, "What smell?"

Alvin breathed the air in deeply. He sighed out in contentment, "It smells really, really nice."

Brittany slowly shut her eyes and took in a breath of air. She opened her eyes after taking a sniff and looked at Alvin, "I don't smell anything."

Brittany glanced around, "Maybe there's a flower nearby?"

She turned around to search the area. As she turned, her hair brushed past Alvin's nose.

Alvin took a step back, the smell of Brittany's hair filling his nose. His eyes widened in realization as he suddenly understood that the smell was coming from Brittany. This wasn't the scent of her blood, but it was her actual scent. Alvin's face heated up, and he stared at Brittany.

Brittany looked back at Alvin, "I don't see any flowers."

Alvin stuttered out, "It's fine."

Brittany noticed his red cheeks. She frowned, "Did the branch hit your whole face?"

Alvin grunted out a "yes" as he quickly looked away from Brittany's face.

Brittany sighed, "We should head back to town and get your face checked."

Alvin shook his head, "Brittany, I'm fine."

Brittany ignored the statement and started walking back. Alvin groaned and followed her, "I'm fine."

Brittany shrugged at his protest, "Alvin, I don't want to be blamed for your face turning all purple and disgusting, so we're going to head back and get you fixed up. Your nose is going to keep hurting too until we do something."

Alvin raised an eyebrow and watched her walk forward. He shook his head and followed her quietly.

They walked in silence. Brittany walked slightly ahead of him. Alvin kept a small distance between the two of them. He slowly began to eye her hand, which hung loosely by her side. Alvin glanced at the back of Brittany's head, checking to see if she was about to turn to look at him. Once he made sure she was gazing forward, he turned his eyes back to her hand. Alvin reached his hand out towards hers slowly, biting down on his bottom lip. Just as he was about to take hold of her hand, Brittany lifted it upward to push her bangs out of her face. Alvin quickly pulled his hand back.

He stared down at his hand in shock. He whispered to himself, "What the heck am I doing?"

Brittany looked back at him, "What'd you say?"

Alvin looked at her. He used his hand to grab his nose. He said, "I was just saying that my nose hurts."

"I was totally right," Brittany said as she pointed at him, a smirk on her face.

Alvin rolled his eyes, "You're never right."

Brittany scoffed and looked forward. They both smiled secretly to themselves.

The pair made it back to the log wall. Brittany, instead of making Alvin carry them to the other side, led Alvin to a small entryway in between some logs. Brittany climbed through with ease.

Alvin watched her, mouth agape, "Why didn't we come this way in the first place?"

Brittany shrugged, a smirk evident on her face, "Maybe I just wanted you to carry me across."

"You're ridiculous," Alvin said, chuckling, as he followed after her.

Brittany giggled at the statement. She returned to the town with Alvin. They walked next to each other, smiles on their faces.

They were turning heads. Many of the townspeople were watching Alvin and Brittany make their way between the buildings.

Alvin heard someone whisper to another person a distance away, "Brittany's looking a lot happier than usual."

Alvin smiled with pride and turned his eyes towards Brittany. Brittany walked in time with Alvin. She was looking up at the sky, admiring the clouds that passed overhead.

Alvin reluctantly looked away from her and noticed that Brittany was leading him away from the hotel.

"Oh, wait, Britt," Alvin called out to her.

Brittany stopped walking. She looked back at him, "Hm?"

Alvin gestured to the hotel, "I actually have to go do something. I can have someone from my family look at my nose."

Brittany's shoulders slowly dropped. She gave him her best smile, but Alvin immediately knew it was fake. It didn't carry that same glow that her smiles usually have. Brittany said, "Well, it was nice hanging out with you."

Alvin nodded, smiling at her, "I had a lot of fun."

Brittany waved at him, "Me too. I'll see you around."

Brittany began walking away from Alvin. Alvin watched her move farther and farther away from him, a frown building on his face. Alvin looked at her hand, remembering his failed attempt at holding hands with her earlier. He clenched his fists and mumbled, "I'm not going to fail again."

"Brittany!" Alvin called out.

Brittany turned around to face him. She wasn't very far from him, but there was still some distance between them.

Alvin glanced away from her, and with some struggle he asked her, "Do you wanna go on another walk at the same time tomorrow?"

Brittany had been frowning. Her grim expression slowly shifted to one of her famously bright smiles, "Really?"

Alvin nodded. He smirked at her, "And maybe you can try not to hit me in the face with a branch this time."

Brittany raised an eyebrow, "Well, if I can't hit you in face, I don't even know if I want to go."

Alvin laughed and shook his head, "Are you coming or not?"

Brittany's face broke out into an ever bigger smile, "Yeah."

Alvin smiled. They both just stood there for a moment, smiling at each other.

"Well," Brittany said, "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Alvin nodded his head, grinning, "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

Brittany waved at him once again. Brittany walked away, an evident cheer in her step.

Alvin lightly bit his lip to contain his freaking out. He pumped his fist into the air. Once he realized what he had just done, Alvin quickly looked around to see if anyone had been watching his embarrassing momentary freak out. Alvin rolled his shoulders back, reverting back to an emotionless visage. He walked into the hotel coolly.

Alvin made his way through the hotel. He climbed up the stairs to reach the upper level of the hotel. Once he reached the top of the stairs, Alvin walked down the hall, searching for his bedroom. He pulled out his key upon finding his room. Alvin unlocked the old wooden door. After opening the door, Alvin was met with the sight of Alex, Steven, and Callisto discussing something in Alvin's room. Alvin gaped at the view.

Callisto glanced towards Alvin. He stood and nodded at Alex and Steven, "It was nice talking to you both."

Callisto began making his way out the door. He smirked at Alvin as he passed him. Callisto walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

Alvin glared at Callisto as he passed by and exited the room. He reeled around to the two men standing in his bedroom. Alvin glared at Alex and Steven, "Why the hell was he in my room?"

Alex looked very tired. He ran a hand through his hair, "I'll get to that. Just sit down."

Alvin growled quietly to himself. He trudged towards the bed, more upset that he had lost the happiness he had received from Brittany instead of Callisto's being in his room without his knowing. Alvin plopped down onto his bed. He mumbled in anger to himself.

Alex sighed, "We need to talk to you about something important. We weren't actually going to talk to you about this because we thought you were never going to do it, but some recent events have changed our minds."

Alvin looked up at them, "What are we going to talk about?"

Steven smirked. The word rolled off of his tongue, and it made Alvin freeze.

Steven said the word smugly, "Mating."

Alvin shook his head vigorously. The color drained from his face. He chuckled nervously, "Guys, we don't need to talk about this."

Alex patted his son's head, "This talk is long overdue, Alvin."

Steven tried to hold in his laughter. Alvin glared at Steven. Steven had to look away to keep himself from laughing.

Alvin sighed and looked at Alex, "What made you change your mind about talking to me about mating?"

Steven and Alex both turned to look at him. They said in unison, "Brittany."

Alvin stood to his feet quickly. His eyes were wide, and his face flushed slightly. "What!?" he shouted.

Steven and Alex both pushed Alvin down onto the bed. Steven chuckled and answered Alvin, "Alvin, you've been especially protective over her. If she does anything that would normally annoy you, you don't even seem to care."

Alvin scoffed. He turned his head away and defiantly said, "I don't believe you."

"Oh, really? You want proof?" Steven asked, an eyebrow raised.

Alvin gave Steven a challenging look, "Yes, if you actually have any."

Steven said his proof quickly, "First, you almost attacked me when I asked if Brittany knew anything about what Shroudsville was hiding."

Alvin's eyes widened, and he cast his eyes downward.

Steven continued, "Second, you killed a vampire last night just because the vampire wasn't talking about Brittany right."

Alvin clenched his fists.

"Third, you hate when people touch you and order you around. But just this morning, Brittany grabbed your arm and told you where to go," Steven finished.

Alvin didn't look up at Steven. He mumbled, "None of that means anything."

Steven shrugged. He started heading towards the door. "Well," he said, "if it doesn't mean anything, I guess I'll go see if Brittany wants to spend some time with me."

Alvin didn't move.

Steven placed his hand on the doorknob, "I'll see you guys later."

Steven didn't even get the chance to open the door because he was pulled back roughly by a furious-looking Alvin. Alvin glared at Steven dangerously. Steven smirked at Alvin's expression. Alvin slowly seemed to realize what he had just done because he released Steven and took a few steps back.

Alvin looked down. He slowly whispered, "Steven, please don't ask her out."

Steven chuckled and patted Alvin's shoulder, "I was just trying to make a point. I would never actually do that. Besides, I've already got myself a girl."

Alvin looked very relieved. He moved back towards the bed and sat at the edge of it.

Alex smiled weakly, watching the whole event take place, "Alvin, you care about Brittany. That's not something to be ashamed of."

Alvin nodded his head. His rubbed his hands together, glancing away bashfully. Steven walked back over to Alvin and Alex.

Alex said, "Alvin, we need to explain something to you. It'll be brief."

Alvin gazed up at his father, waiting patiently for Alex to explain whatever he was trying to tell him.

"It's about the way wolves and humans fall in love," Alex said the words carefully.

Alvin nodded his head. Steven was observing Alex.

Alex began explaining, "Alright, Alvin. Wolves fall in love very quickly. Extremely quickly, actually. I've heard of two wolves falling in love after only meeting twice. It's very rushed because wolves have engraved mates, the mates engraved on their souls, but you already know that. Wolves don't need to get to know each other to know that they are supposed to be together."

Alvin nodded his head, "I know all of that already. Why are you repeating this?"

Steven said, "Alvin, just listen."

Alvin sighed and nodded his head.

Alex continued, "Humans don't fall in love like wolves do. Humans don't have engraved mates. They don't know who they're supposed to be with immediately upon meeting them. Humans need to know their mate for a long time to have a solid relationship. Humans might even meet their true mate, but they may never actually be together. It's a very rough process."

"Why are we even talking about humans?" Alvin scoffed.

Steven said, "Alvin, if you're forgetting, Brittany is a human."

Alvin paused. Realization twisted his face. He frowned, "Oh yeah."

Alex and Steven watched Alvin patiently. They waited for him to say something.

Alvin thought of just Brittany in general. The idea of her almost carried him away, but Alvin brought his thoughts back to the situation at hand. He slowly spoke, looking up at the two men, "Brittany's not a real human, though."

Alex said, "She is a human. She was born from a vampire and wolf, but Brittany herself is definitely a human."

Alvin frowned. He cast his eyes downward.

Alex continued, "Alvin, we just think you should really consider this relationship with Brittany. Think it over. Be careful before you actually decide to pursue her."

Steven chuckled, "Decide to pursue her? Alex, Alvin's already after Brittany, even if he hasn't noticed it yet."

Alvin scowled at Steven. Alex chuckled.

Alex slowly said, "And, I think you should really think over your possible future relationship with Brittany. Really think it over. Callisto told us some horrible things about what they're planning to do with her."

Alvin immediately turned his eyes to Alex, "What are they planning to do with Brittany?"

Steven waved his hand, "You'd probably kill someone if you knew the whole thing. It was something about Brittany's mating and birthing habits."

Alvin frowned, "What about them?"

Steven shook his head, "It's best that you don't know."

Alex nodded, agreeing with Steven's statement, "Alvin, our point is that you should consider Brittany's safety as your mate. Think about if she's safer in this town or with you. Just think everything about her and this relationship over before you do anything rash, okay?"

Alvin slowly nodded his head. He whispered, "Yeah, I'll think it all over."

They all stayed in silence for a while, just thinking. Alvin sat with his head in his hands, appearing very stressed.

Steven remembered something, "Alex, the letter."

Alvin looked up at them, raising an eyebrow.

Alex recalled what Steven meant. He walked to the desk sitting in the corner of the hotel room. He picked something up and made his way back over to Steven and Alvin. He slowly handed it to Alvin, "Callisto brought it over. It's a letter from Brittany's mom."

Alvin appeared flummoxed. He took the letter slowly, eyebrows scrunched together. He slowly ripped the envelope open. Alvin pulled the letter out, unfolded it, and began reading.

Alvin's eyes widened slowly as he drank in each word of the letter. He whispered in utter shock, "What?"

* * *

Bridget gazed out the window of her house. She looked up at the stars, patiently waiting. Bridget glanced backwards at the large grandfather clock residing in the living room. It was time.

Bridget closed the curtains. She left the living room and walked on silent feet towards the office. Knocking twice, Bridget waited.

"Come in," she heard a small voice call.

Bridget entered the room. She shut the door behind her. Turning her head, she moved her gaze towards her mate. Brandon sat at the desk. The open curtains allowed the moon to pour pale light into the office, bathing everything in an ominous gray.

Brandon glanced at Bridget with cold eyes, "She saw Alvin today, correct?"

Bridget gave him a small nod.

Brandon looked down at his desk, "Make sure nothing happened."

Bridget nodded once again. She slowly left the mayor's office to follow her mate's orders.

Bridget made her way upstairs. She stepped quietly through the house, careful not to wake anyone. Once she was upstairs, Bridget moved down to the end of the hall. She reached into her pocket after arriving at the door and fiddled around until she found the item she was searching for. She pulled a key out of her pocket and pushed it into the keyhole. The door unlocked. It creaked as Bridget pushed it open.

Bridget gazed down the darkened stairway that the door revealed. She moved into the darkness, shutting and locking the door behind her. Her eyes began glowing orange, adjusting Bridget's sight to her black surroundings.

Once Bridget reached the bottom of the staircase, she was met with another locked door. She pulled a different key out of her other pocket. Bridget unlocked this door very slowly. She walked into the completely dark room. It was windowless. The room felt very cold; it even made Bridget shiver.

Bridget looked towards the bed positioned in the corner of the room. A figure rested under a few blankets. Bridget made her way over to the bed. The figure resting in the bed made Bridget smile. She gazed down at a peacefully sleeping Brittany.

Bridget smiled at her daughter. She slowly rested a hand over Brittany's eyes. Bridget bent down and pressed her forehead against Brittany's. Brittany's body jerked and then went entirely limp.

Bridget searched the memories Brittany made that day. Bridget smiled and did what she needed to do.

Bridget stayed in the same position for a while. Once she finished, Bridget lifted her head up. Tears lightly dripped down her cheeks. Brittany's face looked very troubled as she slept.

Bridget whispered happily, wiping away her own tears, "It won't be long now, Brittany."

Bridget then quietly exited the room, shutting the door and leaving a very unsettled Brittany alone in the dark.

* * *

**I hope you liked this new chapter! There was some curious stuff in there, hm? Also, I tried to include a little bit of Alvin and Brittany fluff while keeping the plot moving. We definitely haven't had enough Alvin and Brittany yet, though. There will be a lot more to come.**

**Anyway, tell me what you think!**

**Please R&amp;R!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey, everyone! Sorry for the late update. I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
**

**I don't own things.**

* * *

The time on the clock read four in the morning. It was still very dark outside, and Shroudsville was asleep. Alvin sat within the walls of the diner in a rotten-smelling booth on a leather-bound chair.

Alvin yawned and checked the clock periodically. He didn't even want to be at the diner right now. The reason he wished to rush back to the hotel now wasn't because he was tired, but because he really didn't want to meet with her. Bridget was on her way here to explain that letter to him. Alvin wasn't even sure if he wished to know anymore.

All Alvin desired now was to find Brittany. He had seen her just yesterday, but that wasn't enough for him. He wanted to see her more. He wanted to see her all the time.

It had been a few days since Alvin had first puffed out his chest and asked her to hang out again. Alvin and Brittany spent every day together since then. They met at the same time, same place each day. Brittany was usually the one who decided what they would do because she knew the town more than he did. They had gone to eat a few times, searched through the moldy shelves of an old bookstore, watched the clouds slide across the sky, and done many other activities. Alvin enjoyed every second they had spent together, and thinking about those wonderful moments now made time speed by.

"Alvin."

Alvin jumped and turned his eyes towards Bridget. Bridget wove through the scattered tables as she made her way over to him.

"I didn't hear you come in," Alvin said.

"I came in through the back. I didn't want the bells of the front door ringing. Most of the people who live in town are wolves, and they'd definitely hear the sound."

Alvin nodded his head and gestured to the seat across from himself. Bridget slid into the booth. She placed a basket full of fruit on the table. Alvin raised an eyebrow at the wicker container.

Bridget took an apple out of the basket. She said, "It's for the Morta sisters. They're much older and can't hunt very well due to their old age."

Alvin nodded, eyeing the fruit. Bridget offered him an apple, which Alvin took gratefully.

"Actually, you'll most likely visit them soon," Bridget said.

"What makes you think that?" asked Alvin, an eyebrow raised.

Bridget smiled at the question, "Brittany loves the Morta sisters. She helped me pack this basket for them. She hasn't seen them in a few days, so I have no doubt that Brittany will take you over to meet them soon."

Alvin smiled at the mention of Brittany's name. He took a bite of the apple, even happier now knowing that Brittany may have put his apple in the basket. He shrugged, "Well, I guess I don't mind meeting them, if Brittany wants me to get to know them."

"You really care about Brittany, huh?" Bridget questioned, grinning.

Alvin didn't respond. He continued munching on his apple, keeping his gaze on anything but Bridget. Bridget noticed the faint blush on his cheeks, and she smiled.

Bridget said, "Let's get this over with then, so you won't be tired during your date with Brittany."

"It's not a date," Alvin said the words more as if he was trying to convince himself rather than convince Bridget.

"Of course," Bridget agreed, giggling.

After they finished their apples, Alvin suddenly turned very serious. He looked directly into Bridget's eyes, a dark look overtaking his face. Bridget paused for a moment, gripping onto the core of her apple, staring into his fiery orange eyes. This feeling that came over her, was this the power of an Alpha?

Alvin said in a more intense voice, "In your letter, you said that you were purposely making Brittany forget more than she needed to. You've been doing it so much that she's been having lapses in her memory about the smallest things. Why?"

Bridget didn't respond. She was frozen. His glare seemed to permeate her soul and take a hold of it, strangle it, and throw it around effortlessly, beating it down for answers. Bridget couldn't look away.

Alvin growled, "Bridget."

Bridget felt like she was in danger. She was scared. If she were in her wolf form, she would be tucking her tail in between her legs and trying to outrun her adversary.

Alvin's fist slammed down onto the tabletop, causing the basket to rattle. "Bridget!" he snarled.

She snapped out of it. Bridget said as quickly as she could, "It's not fair for Brittany to be forced to forget all of her memories. I never wanted this for her. Brandon said it would be easier to take care of her this way, but I think it'd be better, maybe even easier, if she could remember."

Alvin calmed a bit, but he was still very intense. He gaze did not let up. "So, you're purposely trying to push Brittany's memory over the limit?"

Bridget gave him a meager nod.

Alvin's shoulders dropped. His eyebrows drew together as he quietly said, "Won't it hurt her to remember?"

"But, isn't it worth it for her to remember?"

* * *

Alvin laid in the dark for hours. He came back from his meeting with Bridget hours ago, but Alvin couldn't fall asleep after that. His head spin painfully. Thoughts were absent from his mind. He didn't think. He just stared at the ceiling, head aching.

Glancing at the clock, relief and worry rushed through his body simultaneously. It was almost time for him to meet Brittany. He didn't know how he could face her now, knowing the information that he did.

It was no use missing Brittany's and his hang out, though. If he didn't arrive on time, Brittany would come here and retrieve him. That thought motivated him to climb out of bed and ready himself to meet her, no matter how painful it was.

Alvin trudged his way over to where he usually met Brittany. He didn't want to see her, especially with this secret on his soul. She could read him like a book. She'd see it in his face. Upon glancing into his eyes for a single second, Brittany would immediately know that he was keeping a secret from her.

Brittany was snapping in his face. Alvin blinked and gazed at her. He hadn't realized that he was staring off into space. Brittany's face was very close to his as she snapped her fingers to grab his attention. She wore a gray sweater and black pants because of the chilly temperature.

Alvin took hold of her snapping hands and moved them away. His hands lingered for a moment on hers before releasing them.

Brittany smiled at him, "Hi, Alvin."

"Hey," he mumbled.

She frowned, "Are you okay?"

Alvin examined her worried face. He felt guilty for making her concerned. He smiled at her as best as he could, "I'm great."

"Because I'm here, right?" Brittany said smugly.

A real smile slowly conquered his face. He rolled his eyes and said, "I was doing better when you weren't here."

Brittany pouted in a way that made Alvin feel legitimately guilty. He knew that it was only a fake puppy dog expression, but he still felt so bad.

She cast her eyes downward, "I guess I'll leave then."

The girl turned on her heel and began trudging away, but Alvin laughed and took a hold of her arm, dragging her back towards him. He pulled her into an embrace, which she happily accepted.

Alvin held her close, silently breathing in her scent. He said in a pleasant voice, "I'd never mean something like that, Brittany."

Brittany smiled. She felt him smell her hair, and she almost had to stop herself from laughing. Brittany nodded her head, "I know."

Holding her close, Alvin began feeling much better. She had this way about her. It made him feel happier, even when he didn't want to.

They stayed in that position for a while. Alvin's eyes shot open, realizing that this was definitely longer than a normal hug was supposed to last. Alvin awkwardly pulled away from Brittany. He cleared his throat and said, "So, um, what do you want to do today?"

She giggled in response to his awkwardness. Brittany gestured to a basket on the ground. He hadn't even noticed it. Alvin stared at it for a moment before he realized that was the basket Bridget brought to their meeting last night.

"What's with the basket?" Alvin said.

"It's for these old ladies across town. They're really weird, but fun, y'know? They like to tell the future for entertainment. My mom and I made this basket for them last night. My mom was going to take it to them this morning, but she ended up bringing it back because she knows I've been wanting to go visit them for the past few days."

Alvin nodded. That's why Brittany had the basket. But, had Bridget really done this because Brittany wanted to see the old ladies, or had Bridget done this to remind Alvin of their talk last night?

Brittany said, smiling, "The Morta sisters are really nice. You'll like them."

"I hope," Alvin said.

Brittany laughed and began walking forward. She reached back automatically to grab a hold of Alvin's arm and drag him to where she wanted to take him, but her hand grabbed nothing.

She looked back at him. Alvin had taken a step back, purposely avoiding her grabbing hand. Puzzled, Brittany looked at him.

Alvin glanced at her face, turned his eyes downward, then looked back at her face.

Brittany followed his gaze. She saw that his hand was outstretched towards her. Alvin waited expectantly.

Brittany's cheeks heated up. She took hold of his hand, turning her face away from his smug gaze. They began moving towards their destination. Alvin could feel her pulse quickening and her body warming up, and he couldn't help but smile.

The pair walked in comfortable silence for a time. Brittany kept shifting the heavy fruit basket in her hand, continuing to hold his hand tightly with her other hand. Alvin, without a word, took the basket from her. Brittany smiled gratefully.

Brittany, as they neared a sketchy-looking hut made out scraps of rusting metal and decaying wood, looked up at the sky excitedly, "It's supposed to snow a lot tonight." She looked at him, beaming, "It's the first snow of winter."

Alvin followed her gaze, shifting his eyes to the sky, "I don't like snow that much."

"I can understand that, but consider this: why?" Brittany said, raising an eyebrow at him.

Alvin chuckled and said, "It's just cold and wet, and snow is only fun for, like, a day. Snow gets everywhere, especially in shoes, and it's just annoying."

Brittany giggled, shaking her head, "You're like a little kid."

"A kid who hates snow," he added.

She smiled as they reached the abandoned-looking hut. She released Alvin's hand reluctantly, which left Alvin with a strangely cold feeling in his hand. Brittany knocked a few times on the door. They heard a voice call out, "Come in!"

Brittany pushed the door open, and the scent hit Alvin like a brick. The interior of the house was heavily perfumed. Alvin began coughing hard. His eyes watered slightly. Brittany coughed as well, but she tried to keep it to a minimum.

The interior of the house was very colorful. Ribbons hung down from the ceiling, some of them having beads tied to their ends. The walls were covered with paint splatters. In the center of the room, a table, which appeared just about to collapse, was surrounded by mismatched chairs. Random junk (or as Brittany called it "antique art," but Alvin was pretty sure it was strictly trash) covered the floors and was stacked up in the corners. The place made Alvin feel claustrophobic.

"Who's there?" a voice asked from another room.

"It's Brittany Miller," Brittany called back.

Alvin heard shuffling across the wooden floors. The voice responded, "Brittany, darling! We're coming!"

Two women appeared in the doorway from a different room. One wore a large grin on her face. She was clothed in basically every color of the rainbow, and bangles jingled on her wrists. The woman walked with a cane as she moved towards Brittany. The other woman, a lady with a stern face, was dressed in darker, yet still colorful, clothing. She was nearly a head taller than the other woman.

The woman with a cane asked, "Where are you, sweetie?"

"Look right in front of you," Alvin said sarcastically.

The stern-faced woman turned her eyes in his direction, "We're blind, you idiot."

Brittany shot Alvin a look before rushing towards the women, beaming. She grabbed one hand from each of older ladies. She smiled, "I missed you guys."

"You need to visit us more," the woman with a cane said, smiling in the direction of Brittany's voice.

Brittany nodded, agreeing, "I'll come more often, I promise."

"Who's your dumbass friend?" the stern-faced woman interrupted.

"Oh, that's Alvin," Brittany smiled even more, holding back a laugh at the old woman's vulgarity.

The shorter woman nudged Brittany, grinning, "Is he a friend or a suitor?"

Brittany laughed, "Just a friend."

That stung Alvin a little bit.

She looked at Alvin. Brittany gestured to the taller, stern-faced woman, "Alvin, this is Decima." Brittany pointed to the other woman, "And this is Nona."

Alvin waved. The two woman didn't respond. They just looked in his direction. Brittany mouthed to him, "Talk."

Alvin appeared confused before his remembered that they were blind. He pointed at his eyes, trying not laugh. Brittany attempted to not smile in response.

Alvin said, laughing, "Hi."

"Hi!" chirped Nona.

Decima didn't respond.

Brittany turned her gaze back to the women. "My mom wanted me to bring this basket over," she said.

Decima pointed towards where she thought the kitchen was, but instead she ended up gesturing to a wall, "You can put it in the kitchen."

"Your mother is so kind," Nona sighed out, smiling.

Brittany walked out of the room, heading towards the kitchen. Alvin went to follow her, not wanting to be in a room alone with the two elderly women. Nona grabbed a hold of Alvin's arm, an action that Brittany was familiar with doing. Alvin wondered if this is where she learned it.

Nona reached up and began touching Alvin's face. Alvin didn't really appreciate it, but he didn't say anything against the caressing hands. Nona felt his face, "Hm, you're an attractive one, aren't you?"

Suddenly Decima's hands were also on Alvin's face. Alvin clenched his fists, trying not to speak out against it. Decima opened Alvin's mouth and felt his teeth, "A werewolf."

"A Seville werewolf too, if I'm correct," added Nona.

Alvin mumbled, "Brittany's just in the other room." He didn't want her hearing about his werewolf side.

"Oh, she won't be back in here for a bit. She likes to straighten up for us," Nona said.

"Now, what's a Seville werewolf doing so far off of his territory?" Decima asked in a voice that almost made Alvin shiver.

Alvin rolled his eyes in annoyance at the reason and said, "Vampires got a hold of our home, so we're looking for new territory."

Decima appeared to be trying not to laugh, "Your pack lost its territory? The territory that's been running in your family for centuries?"

"Yes."

Decima laughed. Right in his face. Alvin held his fury back.

Nona smiled at Alvin, "That's not so bad. I bet you all will find your new home soon."

"What makes you think that?" asked Alvin.

Nona, in turn, said, "What makes you ask that?"

"We've been searching for years. There's nothing unclaimed for thousands of miles," Alvin said.

Nona smiled, "I think you'll find a new home soon, so don't worry."

Alvin raised an eyebrow.

"We see the future," Nona said in a quiet voice, leaning close to Alvin.

A look of realization crossed Alvin's face, remembering that Brittany mentioned this earlier, even though she had said it was just for fun. He nodded his head.

"Brittany, can we look into your friend's future?" Decima suddenly shouted.

Brittany called back, "Sure!"

Alvin's eyes went wide, and he tried to get out of it. "Brittany," he said, "don't we need to leave soon?"

She responded, "We can stay for a while." Alvin couldn't see her, but he knew she had that smug little smirk on her face.

Nona let out a joyful squeal. She pushed Alvin towards the table, "Sit, sit!"

Alvin obeyed her commands reluctantly. Decima and Nona sat across from him.

"Brittany, sweetheart, make us some tea, why don't you? This is going to take a little bit," said Decima.

"Of course," Brittany said.

"She's such a joy," Nona smiled.

Alvin observed the two women. They didn't move an inch. The sound of a door shutting was heard, and they smiled at him. Alvin noticed their fangs for the first time. Alvin put his walls up. "You're vampires," he said slowly.

"Took you long enough, Sherlock."

He glared at Decima. She simply grinned at him in return, "It's hard to sniff us out when our precious little Brittany is nearby, hm?"

Alvin didn't respond. He turned his fury-filled gaze down towards the table. "Are you two telling the truth about being able to see the future? You Shroudsville townspeople lie a lot for Brittany's sake."

Nona giggled, "We weren't lying. Besides, don't you lie for Brittany's sake as well?"

He went silent.

The two women closed their eyes, seeming to be attempting to focus. The only thought on Alvin's mind was that the faster they finished this, the faster Brittany would come back. He felt entirely uncomfortable and vulnerable without Brittany by his side.

Nothing happened.

"Am I supposed to be doing something?" he asked.

"Shut up, so we can focus," Decima shot at him.

Alvin mumbled, "I hate vampires."

The elderly woman didn't respond to his comment. They shut their eyes tightly, focusing as hard as they could.

Alvin began playing with his hands, trying to recreate the feeling of warmth Brittany's hand had given off earlier, but then a loud _pop_ was heard throughout the room. The eyes of the two women shot open simultaneously. Colored light spilled out from their eyes and danced around the room. A wind passed through the room, spinning around Alvin's hair. Alvin stared at the flying colors in awe. He suddenly felt very bad for Brittany because she wasn't able to see this wonderful sight. He couldn't even imagine how beautiful she would look with these colors swirling around her.

Alvin felt a tug on his hand. He looked towards it and was surprised when he saw Decima gripping it. He couldn't remember her taking a hold of his hand. When he looked over, he saw that Nona was grasping his other hand.

Nona lifted his hand up in front of her face, the light emitting from her eyes reflecting onto his skin. She stared blankly forward and spoke in a breathy voice, "You have a lot of blood on your hands." Her face twisted into one of concern, "There's the blood of someone familiar here."

"Someone close to you," Decima cut in.

Alvin frowned. He shook his head and began pulling his hands back, but their grips were iron. He said, "I wouldn't kill someone I'm close to."

Nona clung to his hand. Alvin jumped. She cried out, "Oh, you monster!"

The colors in the room began spinning.

Alvin's eyes widened in panic. He searched the colors, looking for the door, looking for an exit. It was hard to find it in these swirling colors. He tugged on his hands, trying harder to remove them from the women's grasp.

Decima's hold tightened. She stared forward blankly, "This isn't even your first time murdering someone close to you."

Alvin's throat tightened. He didn't want to remember that.

"You're a monster! You've killed so many! You've left them all alone! Why did you leave them alone? Why did you hurt them? Why did you do it? You monster! You evil, evil monster!" Nona burst into tears.

The colors spun so quickly that they began to blur.

Alvin's head hurt. His heart began aching painfully.

Decima dug her nails into his hands, "You're the monster, not our enemies! We should be fearing you!"

Alvin ripped his hands away.

The colors stopped spinning.

Nona sobbed into her hands. Decima attempted to comfort her, tears in her eyes.

He stared at them. Alvin's eyes were wide. His breathing was rough. His face was wet for some reason. Alvin discovered there were tears on his face. He was crying.

A steamy screech was heard from the kitchen. The trio jumped.

Brittany's sweet voice was heard from the other room, "Tea's almost done!"

Alvin's eyes widened. He whispered, "Brittany."

He was out of there in one second. He ran away as fast as his legs could carry him. Away from the Morta sisters, away from the spinning colors, away from Brittany.

He didn't even know where he was going.

The sunlight beat down on his back painfully, like it was telling him that he didn't belong in the light.

"I won't do it," he whispered, "I won't kill anyone. Don't kill anyone, Alvin."

The sunshine was so painful. He didn't belong in it. It burned his back. It told him to go into the shadows, to go home.

Alvin rushed behind a building. It blocked him from the sunlight. The shadow was cold and comfortable.

Alvin stood there for a while. He breathed hard, exhausted from running. He stared out at the sun-drenched trees. The leaves weren't colorful anymore. They were brown and dying. The wind rushed through the area. It swirled through his hair, reminding him of the strange wind and the spinning colors. Alvin's body shook.

"Alvin."

Alvin jumped back. He felt his teeth sharpen in panic. Staring to his left, he saw her. Brittany stood there, breathing hard. She wasn't standing behind the building. She wasn't there with him in the shadow. Brittany was illuminated by the light. She seemed so bright, so far away.

"You ran away."

Alvin whispered, "I couldn't be in there anymore."

Brittany took a step towards him, a step into the shadow. Alvin took a step back. Brittany frowned.

She slowly placed a tired and weak smile on her face. She gestured to the ground, "Can I sit here and watch the forest?"

Reluctantly, Alvin gave her a small nod.

Brittany sat down on the ground. Alvin imitated her. She observed the last few leaves swaying on the trees. Alvin watched her blankly. He kept a few feet in between them. Brittany didn't utter a word, just simply sat there. Alvin shook lightly.

She continued examining the forest as she asked him quietly, "Did they say something you didn't like?"

Alvin gave her another meager nod, watching her.

"I'm sorry I took you there," she whispered.

He didn't say anything in response.

Brittany's icy blue eyes slowly shifted towards him, "Can I come sit by you?"

Alvin didn't respond. He stared at her plainly.

Brittany began scooting closer to him slowly, as if approaching a bird and trying not to scare it away. She moved away from the light and joined him in the shadows. Alvin noted how out-of-place she looked here.

He didn't move. He allowed her to move close to him.

Brittany reached a hand out to his face. He didn't panic. He didn't react at all. She wiped away his tears. Alvin hadn't noticed that he had been crying again.

"They must've told you some horrible things," she whispered.

He said quietly, "They did."

Brittany sat right next to him, barely leaving any space in between them. It prompted Alvin to calm down a tiny bit. She gently placed a hand on the side of his head and pulled it down onto her shoulder. Alvin rested his head on her shoulder, shutting his eyes. He breathed her scent in deeply. Brittany took a hold of his hand and began rubbing it softly.

Alvin whispered, "You make me weak, Brittany."

Brittany looked at the trees. "How so?" she asked quietly.

He sighed and grabbed some of her hair, bringing it up to his nose and breathing her in. He responded faintly, "I would've done some really bad things. I was going to hurt Nona and Decima. I was going to hurt them so badly. I heard you say that the tea was almost done, and I-I couldn't do it, Britt. I couldn't do anything, knowing you were just behind that door."

She gazed up at the sky and admired the white clouds, "Did you run away because of what they were saying or because of me?"

Alvin glanced up at her face. He watched her long eyelashes blink up at the sky. "You," he said quietly, sounding preoccupied.

"I would've run away too, if our roles had been switched," Brittany said as she rested her head against his.

Alvin didn't have anything to say in response. They sat in a comfortable silence. Brittany admiring the sky, Alvin admiring Brittany's long eyelashes.

He slowly picked his head up, which caused Brittany to lift her head up. They turned their faces towards each other. Their faces were only inches apart. Alvin and Brittany suddenly found each others eyes very interesting. They gazed at each other.

"I really want to kiss you, Brittany," Alvin breathed out.

In return, Brittany gave a small nod. She said quietly, "I want to kiss you too."

Alvin began leaning forward. Brittany placed a hand on his chest, gently stopping him.

"You don't want to kiss me?" he frowned.

Brittany sighed, "I do."

"Then what's stopping us?"

She looked down, frowning, "We've only known each other for a small amount of time…"

"So?" asked Alvin.

Brittany didn't respond. Instead, she stood up. She turned away from him, saying in a small voice, "I need to get home."

The blue-eyed girl moved forward quickly, stepping out of the shadow and into the light. Before she could move any further, Brittany was pulled back. Alvin had taken a hold of her arm, an action Brittany had often done to him. Alvin was halfway in the light, halfway in the shadow.

The girl blinked in confusion as she looked up at him. Alvin had his arms wrapped around her, holding her by her waist. She didn't fight him; Brittany watched him carefully, waiting for an explanation.

Alvin stared sincerely into her icy blue orbs, "Brittany, I feel more strongly about you than I do anything else, and in just a few days of knowing you."

She bit her lip. It was an action that made Alvin's heart go wild.

"Please be mine," he said in a polite voice, which surprised Brittany.

She tilted her head to the side, considering the thought. Alvin watched her patiently. Brittany's lips slowly curved into that wonderful smile that he admired so much. She didn't need to say anything. Alvin's face broke out in a grin.

He kissed her.

Brittany giggled into their kiss. Grabbing onto his collar, she pulled him out of the shadow entirely. They stood there, kissing with the sun shining down on them.

* * *

The house groaned because of the forceful winds rushing around outside. Brittany made her way down the stairs slowly and silently. The steps creaked beneath her feet. She stepped carefully, glancing back up the stairs. Once she reached the bottom of the staircase, she looked around.

Remembering that her parents were at a nighttime meeting, Brittany grinned. She didn't need to sneak around downstairs. When her parents were gone, Cyrus was in charge of the house. Cyrus didn't mind Brittany being awake in the middle of the night, as long as she was quiet and didn't wake up their little brothers.

Brittany proceeded towards the grandfather clock. It was hard to see it in the darkness filling the room. She squinted her eyes at the face of the clock. "Only a few hours until morning…" she mumbled.

The swirling winds brought her attention back to the reason she was awake right now. Brittany rushed over to the window. Pushing open the curtains, Brittany grinned at the sight.

Snow covered the ground outside. It came down heavily. The wind pulsed and moved, as if it was alive.

Brittany sat down on the windowsill. She watched the snowfall, eyes lighting up at the view.

"It's like some crazy winter wonderland," Brittany whispered delightfully to herself.

It was difficult to see outside because the moon only appeared in the empty spaces between the clouds. She could still observe the snowfall, but it was murky. The fact that she couldn't see very far gave her small chills. What if someone was watching her from the forest? She knew no one was actually looking at her, but it was always a curious thought that swam around her head when she stared out into the night.

Brittany stayed there for some time. She didn't look at the clock, mostly because she couldn't see it from where she was sitting, but also because at the moment, the outside world was fascinating her so much.

She could tell that she'd spent at least an hour there when she finally stood up. Brittany stretched. The windowsill had left her legs sore.

Brittany grabbed on the edges of the curtains and prepared to shut them, but then she noticed something strange. A light appeared in the distance. It was hard to tell how far away it was, but the light was so small that she judged it was pretty far off. The light flickered, as if trying to send a message to her.

Figuring it was just a signal from one of the people who guarded the town at night, Brittany didn't think anything of it. She looked out into the night, attempting to catch sight of another guard going to check out the signal. It was hard to make anything out with the snow flying everywhere and the moon barely showing itself. Then, Brittany remembered something Cyrus had told her a while back. Cyrus, who was training to be a night guard, said that the guards send out flickering light signals to alert the townspeople that someone was hurt.

Worried, Brittany wondered if maybe the guard was injured. Was he trying to send a distress signal? If he was hurt, he'd need help immediately.

She wasn't allowed outside at night. Brittany considered waking Cyrus up so that he could alert some other guards, but the incessant thought pounded itself against her head.

_If he's injured, he needs help immediately._

She decided that her parents could just punish her when she came back with the guard.

Brittany rushed into the kitchen and grabbed the first aid kid. She ran to the backdoor and slipped on her boots. Her snow jacket was not at the door. Brittany and her mother were roughly the same size, so Brittany was almost sure that her mother was using her snow jacket right now.

The blue-eyed girl slipped on multiple sweaters. She also grabbed Cyrus's jacket, for the guard. Brittany wanted to make sure the injured man was warm.

Brittany took one last glance up the stairs as if Cyrus may happen to walk down the stairs at that moment and help her, but he didn't. Sure of herself, Brittany opened the backdoor and sprinted out into the freezing, stormy night.

* * *

**How did you like this chapter? I really want to know your thoughts.**

**Haha, I wasn't actually planning on having Bridget explain that stuff to Alvin in this chapter. I also wasn't planning on having Alvin and Brittany kiss for a long time. The moment just felt right, I guess. But, I think I like how it ended up being this early in the story. There's a reason I sped it up. **

**I can't wait for you guys to see the next chapter!**

**Also, I'm sorry that you all had to wait a month and a half for this update. I've been really busy lately. Once we reach summer, I'll have a lot more time to write. Until then, this story is going to have periodic updates.**

**Anyway, tell me about any grammar mistakes or anything else that needs improvement.**

**Please R&amp;R!**


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